See the Stars
by A Fire in the Attic
Summary: "And that's Edythe. I think she's turned down every boy at the school." It was an exaggeration, which made Edythe roll her eyes and Emmett snicker, but then she heard— "Really?" The way the new girl said it made it sound like this was pretty damn significant.
1. what a stupid lion

**A/N:** For the prompt "warm," from the WFN Advent challenge! Also for Lupa_Barnes' challenge, Destroy Dic(tion) December.

So this is an alternating POV fic. It's incomplete as of right now, but I have several parts written. It was originally posted at my AO3 account as a series, but I'm just going to make it a single fic here! I'll update every day-ish until I catch up with everything I have posted there.

* * *

"Who's that?"

So the new girl had finally asked. Edythe listened to the conversation halfway, not really interested in what Isabella Swan thought of them, until she heard Jessica say, "And that's Edythe. I think she's turned down every boy at the school."

It was an exaggeration, which made Edythe roll her eyes and Emmett snicker, but then she heard—

"Really?" The way the new girl said it made it sound like this was pretty damn significant.

Edythe looked over at her with a frown. What did that mean? She tried to listen carefully for her thoughts, and heard nothing. What did that mean?

Isabella quickly looked away, embarassed about being caught staring.

How strange.

* * *

Bella's blood called to her like nothing else, she learned on the first day of biology.

After less than two weeks of knowing Bella, she realized that wasn't quite true—because Bella herself called to Edythe more strongly than even her blood did. She had never so strongly wanted to befriend a human before. What was it? Just the fact that she couldn't predict what Bella would say? That she surprised her with her thoughtfulness and quirks?

Edythe wasn't sure. She just knew that she was curious...and desperate to know more.

She justified climbing through Bella's window with that thought. If she didn't find out more about Bella, she'd go mad. A vampire who was desperate wasn't safe, she reasoned. It had nothing to do with how soft Bella looked when she was sleeping, or the way her hair fanned over the pillow, or the way her lips parted so sweetly when she talked in her sleep.

The first time she heard Bella say her name, it was a slurred whisper—"Edythe."

She thought she might faint, were it possible, but instead she knelt next to the bed and whispered, "Bella."

Bella hummed and rolled over.

* * *

She saved Bella from the van because it was the right thing to do.

She lied to Bella about it afterwards because it was the right thing to do.

* * *

"You should have let the van crush me," Bella told her angrily in the hospital corridor. The hallways was empty, thank god, but Rosalie and Carlisle were close enough that they could hear everything. That would keep Bella safe if Edythe lost control.

"Why would I have done that?" Edythe felt suddenly exasperated. Bella knew something was up, but why couldn't she leave well enough alone? Humans were so damnably curious.

(Her being curious was not the same, because it didn't put anyone in danger.

Except Bella. Damn it.)

"Look, you aren't the first homophobic straight girl I've had a crush on," Bella said darkly. "You're not even the only one who hated me! But if I've made you this angry, I wish you would have just told me to back off!"

Edythe's mind had gone frustratingly blank at these words. They just echoed. Over and over—Bella had a crush on her. On Edythe. Bella!

Bella thought she was uncomfortable with her because she had a crush on her, not because she had a stupid urge to tell her everything. Bella thought she hated her, enough to let her die when she had the chance to save her!

Her brain could barely keep up, which was quite the feat, given that she was a vampire and all.

Then it slotted back into place and several things became suddenly clear. The obsession. The need to save her. How she should have stayed away, but couldn't convince herself to. She'd dismissed it as interest in a human who could hide their thoughts, but she realized, abruptly, that there was more to it.

"Bella, I—" She couldn't think of the right words, so before she could psych herself out, she swiftly leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Bella's cheek.

Bella's cheek was warm, and Edythe thought she felt the warmth spread from her lips down to her toes. Oh, god. This was—this was better than fresh human blood, better than the thrill of the hunt, better than sparring with Emmett, or getting a hug from Esme. This was—

Fuck.

Edythe spun away and left Bella behind. She couldn't look for her reaction to that, couldn't allow this to continue. She lo—liked Bella. And she wasn't going to put her in danger.

Not today, anyway.

* * *

 **A/N:** I feel a little better about my life knowing I finally contributed to this ship!

My thoughts behind this are that I think Edward/Edythe would behave far less...confidently and suavely if they were stunned when they realized that they're really gay. Bc I remember how embarassed I was the first time i had a gay crush and KNEW what it it was lmao. (I mean it's all good bc we are married now but still! Crushes are embarassing and I'm a disaster! So is Edythe!)

Also, angry Bella is my favorite, always.

 **This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors.**

 **This author invites:**

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 **-Constructive criticism**


	2. we shouldn't be friends

A/N: For the prompt "cold," from the WFN Advent challenge! Also for Lupa_Barnes' challenge, Destroy Dic(tion) December.

* * *

The day after Edythe kissed Bella at the hospital, Bella went to Biology with one mission in mind: find out what the hell the kiss had meant.

Of course, she was mindful that Edythe probably wasn't out of the closet (and it seemed like no one was in Forks, so Bella couldn't blame her), so rather than asking her during their group project, she scribbled into her notebook. "Can we talk about yesterday?"

Edythe looked at the note, pressed her lips tightly together, and shook her head.

Bella frowned. She tried again. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

At that, Edythe looked exasperated. She wrote back. "That was hardly yelling."

She felt just a little victorious. She'd kind of expected Edythe to refuse to say anything to her. "Well, I'm sorry I forcefully whispered at you."

Her lips quirked up into a smile and she just shook her head. She didn't write back.

Bella was distracted, though, staring at her lips. She knew what they felt like now, when before she'd only daydreamed about them. They were smooth, not chapped, but somehow not soft.

And cold.

She wished she could lean over just a little and press their shoulders together, just to see if Edythe was always that cold, or if it had just been from the weather that day.

Not that the weather was ever nice here.

She sighed. Then an idea occurred to her. Maybe Edythe was still uncomfortable writing anything down, because any one could walk by and see their notes. So, she wrote her phone number down on the page. "Text me after school. Please?"

Edythe looked at the message for a while, frowning again.

Finally she took Bella's pencil from her hand and wrote back, "Maybe."

That was good enough, for now.

Bella had had her suspicions about Edythe ever since the first day of school, when Jess had told her Edythe had rejected so many boys. She was sure not every boy had asked Edythe out, but equally certain that many had. It was unusual for her to like none of them. It had just seemed obvious, at least to herself, that Edythe probably wasn't straight. Maybe she was assuming, but there was no harm in hoping that she wasn't the only gay kid at school.

She hadn't really expected Edythe to like her back, though. Not to mention that for a while, she'd thought Edythe hated her, what with the glaring and the silent treatment. It hadn't taken much for her to believe that Edythe was straight and that her bi-fi was broken.

The hospital had been a pleasant surprise. A very pleasant surprise.

And if Edythe thought she was going to let a little distance stop her from solving the supernatural mystery the Cullens presented, she was wrong.

The bell rang, pulling Bella out of her thoughts.

For once, Edythe hadn't vanished. She was still sitting next to Bella, slowly collecting her books. She looked thoughtful.

Bella started to pack her bags, too. "Edythe," she murmured. "I just want you to know that I'm not going to tell anyone."

That seemed to surprise her. "I know." She bit her lip, stared into Bella's eyes for a moment, and then quickly grabbed her notebook. She wrote her own phone number down. "In case I chicken out," she explained, and then she pulled her usual vanishing act.

Bella clutched her notebook and smiled. She hardly even noticed when Mike started talking to her about the lab.

* * *

After gym, Bella was practically vibrating with excitement. She couldn't wait to go home and stare at her phone until Edythe texted (or when she texted Edythe. Whatever.)

The cold in the air hardly bothered her as she rushed to her car. She could see Edythe and Alice talking quietly next to their shiny Volvo, and she waved. She probably shouldn't have drawn attention to them, but she figured people would just assume they were friends, given that Edythe had saved her from being crushed by Tyler's van. Anyway, she was too excited. Edythe was willing to talk to her, even after their fight—and even better, she didn't hate her. And she was probably gay.

Edythe noticed, and ducked her head. Alice nudged her with a grin, and waved back at Bella.

Her truck was a welcome respite from the cold. It was still cold from the air outside, but it blocked the wind, and it always heated up fast. She kept her jacket on, though, as she pulled out of her parking spot and joined the traffic leaving school.

She had already programmed Edythe's information into her phone, so when it chirped on her seat while she drove down Main Street, a quick glance showed her Edythe's name.

Despite the cold, she felt her face get hot. Maybe Edythe couldn't wait, either.

* * *

A/N: This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors.

This author invites:

-Short comments  
-Long comments  
-Questions  
-Constructive criticism


	3. where else could we go?

A/N: For the prompt "love," from the WFN Advent challenge! Also for Lupa_Barnes' challenge, Destroy Dic(tion) December.

* * *

Rose confronted Edythe when they left the hospital. "Why did you let her kiss you? It wasn't enough that you almost exposed us, no! You had to go and let her confess feelings for you and kiss you. You couldn't have dodged that?"

In a sense, Rose's confusion actually made this easier. Maybe Carlisle had thought the same thing! Maybe Edythe didn't have to deal with any feelings at all.

As though summoned by her hope, Alice called.

Shit.

"Well, she's a bit late!" Rose said crossly. Then, she said thoughtfully, "How did you resist eating her, anyway?"

"The same way I've been resisting," Edythe said, rolling her eyes. She answered the phone. "Alice, can we talk about this later? In private?"

Alice sighed. "Fine! But only because I can see that's the only way you'll talk to me. I'm waiting, so hurry home!"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Okay. See you."

Rose wasn't stonily staring out the window. Her thoughts made it clear that she was upset she was being excluded.

It wasn't that Edythe wanted to keep things from Rose, it was just...she wasn't sure she wanted anyone to know about this. Alice couldn't be stopped. "Sorry," she muttered.

Rose just sighed. "It's fine. You're freaked out by it. I understand."

She was freaked out, but she wondered if she was freaked out in the way Rose was assuming.

She supposed it didn't matter.

 _Yet_ , a traitorous voice in her mind whispered.

* * *

Alice didn't say anything when she came home, just patted her shoulder. "You have three paths ahead. They mostly end well."

Great.

* * *

"She gave me her number," Edythe whispers to Alice, outside of the school. "She wants to text about...I'm not sure if it's the kiss, or the vampire stuff." Edythe also wasn't sure which would be better.

Alice closed her eyes. "The kiss," she said. "At least at first. You haven't made a decision yet, so it's hazy after that."

Right. The decision about whether she would pursue the first person she'd had real feelings for in her life (longer than most), disconnect from her to protect her, or...eat her.

Well, at least she was pretty sure she wouldn't pick the last one.

On purpose.

Bella waved at them when she appeared, coming out of gym.

Edythe ducked her head. God. Maybe she did know what she would do.

"Hmm," Alice commented, nudging Edythe and waving back. "The future just got more solid. In a good way."

That's as solid a reassurance as there would be.

She pulls out her phone, types in the number she'd memorized the second she'd seen it, and typed out a text. "Hi." She hit send before she could worry about whether or not that's a good enough message. Now all she had to do was...wait.

It was hardly a wait. Bella texted back "Hello!" within ten minutes. Her next message was just a single emoji—a blushing smiling face.

It was charming.

Edythe closed her bedroom door and curled onto a couch. She stared at the phone, unsure what to say. I've never liked anyone like this before? I didn't know I was a lesbian? Kissing you changed my life?

Her phone lit up. "I didn't think this through," Bella texted. "I don't know what to say."

"We could talk about the kiss," Edythe suggested, because it was safer in at least one sense. Plus, it's what Alice said they would talk about.

"Ok. What did it mean?" Bella asked.

Edythe hesitated. She didn't know what it meant. She had just wanted to do it. And she wanted to do it again, given the opportunity. She typed that out. Then she erased the part about wanting to do it again. There was no reason to put all her cards on the table, at least not right away.

Bella sent back a shocked and blushing emoji. "I liked it," she added.

And—Edythe knew that. She'd heard Bella's breath quicken, seen how wide her eyes were after the kiss, had noticed the way she'd angled toward her in biology—but this message made her breath catch. Bella still liked her. Bella liked the kiss. So she typed, "I want to do it again." Cards all out.

She waited, not breathing, and suddenly Alice was projecting happy thoughts at Edythe so hard that she sat up with a shout.

Alice ran into the room, beaming. She picked Edythe up and spun her around. "The future is so good," she said.

She plucked the vision from Alice's head—she and Bella lying among flowers, a shared kiss, and a whisper from Bella. "I love you."

Edythe couldn't breathe. The vision ended there. "Do I say it back?" She'd be stupid not to!

But Alice shrugged. "That's where it's ended. I'm sure you do. You'd be stupid not to."

Edythe laughed breathlessly and hugged her sister. "I love you," she promised.

"I love you, too!" Alice looked wildly happy. "I get to have a new best friend, you know."

"Really? You're going to ditch me for her?" she teased. In reality, she was wildly happy herself. If Alice and Bella got close, it surely meant that Bella would spend more time with her family. And maybe that meant she didn't have anything to worry about from her siblings.

Not that she'd ever noticed her siblings being overtly homophobic, but the politics of humans didn't interest them for the most part. And it was different now that it was her, their sibling.

"What happens when's I tell everyone?" she asked.

Alice closed her eyes. "It goes fine. Some of us are upset, but it's because of the human aspect, not the...other thing."

Edythe's phone lit up, distracting her. Bella had texted.

"Me, too," Bella said.

So there were a lot of complications. Alice would support them, though, and...Edythe hadn't been so happy in ages.

Maybe her choice wasn't so hard.

* * *

A/N: This au is turning into "What if Edythe had a better relationship with her family and got swept up in the romance a little more?" I'm sure in the future she'll drag her feet more, but this moment in a relationship is always so incredible! Like hey oh my god the person I like likes me and and we have a future! What do I have to lose?

Later, Edythe is going to say, "Everything!" But right now she's just happy.

This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors.

This author invites:

-Short comments  
-Long comments  
-Questions  
-Constructive criticism

 _Replies to reviews:_

Big thanks to my anonymous reviewers (and the ones with accounts!) You guys are all great :) Nothing makes me write quicker than a response to my writing. Love to you all!


	4. angel shouldn't weep

A/n: For the prompt "drama," from the WFN Advent challenge! Also for Lupa_Barnes' challenge, Destroy Dic(tion) December.

Bella comes out to Charlie in this chapter. Everything goes okay, but here's your heads up, if that kind of thing makes you nervous!

* * *

They hadn't exactly decided to start a relationship, but they'd been texting each other for three days straight. And based on the questions Edythe was sending—about her hobbies, her favorite things, her thoughts on random issues (really random, actually; it made Bella wonder if she was googling things to ask)—Bella was pretty sure that was the direction they were headed.

Her mom knew she was bisexual. Her dad...well, it had never come up. She'd gone on occasional dates with people back in Phoneix, but none of them had gone anywhere.

Her phone chimed. "Thoughts on abortion?"

She rolled her eyes. Honestly, Edythe. It was so unrelated to anything that they'd been talking about, she was now certain that Edythe was googling random issues. "If ur not pro-choice we're gonna have a problem," she sent back.

There was a short pause before she answered, and Bella wondered if this was going to be the end of their burgeoning relationship. Or friendship, even.

"Good God. Calm down," finally came through. Edythe followed it up with, "I'm on your side. Abortion has really made leaps and bounds in terms of safety. There's lots of people Carlisle wishes he'd been able to save with the modern procedure."

Bella stared at the message, wondering if she was being punk'd. She hadn't exactly forgotten Edythe's inhuman nature, but it had definitely taken a backseat as they started to flirt around all of this. Plus...Carlisle could only be in his late 20's, and even that was a stretch, based on his youthful face. This message seemed to imply that he'd been practicing medicine since before 1973.

"How old are you?" she texted. Because if Carlisle was lying about his age...

Edythe didn't answer for a while, and she wondered if she was upset with herself for revealing too much. Or maybe it was something else. Finally, she texted back, "Sixteen." Spelled out, which was how she always texted, but now seemed to be an even clearer indication that she was...different.

Had she ever even typed "lol"?

"How long have you been sixteen?" she sent. She jumped when the front door suddenly opened. Shit, was her dad home already? She hadn't even started dinner, too distracted by texting.

"Hey, Bella," her dad said when he saw her on the couch.

She smiled up at him hopefully. "Can we order pizza today? I'm still a little tired from being in the hospital..." She wasn't, but that was beside the point.

"Sure," he said. He looked a little disgruntled to be reminded of that, but didn't say anything about suing Tyler again, so Bella was pretty relieved. There was an insurance claim—she'd overheard her dad talking about it on the phone the night before—but she did not want to go to court over something so small as this.

Charlie ordered a pizza over the phone while Bella continued to wait for a response from Edythe.

The pizza had been delivered and half-eaten by the time Edythe answered. "My birthday is in June, if that's what you mean."

It wasn't, but she filed it away for later, anyway. If they were together in June, she'd plan something. "Did you turn sixteen on that birthday?" Bella pressed.

Edythe sent back a text relatively quickly "It's been a while since I turned sixteen."

As she suspected. Kind of. Edythe didn't really seem sixteen.

"Is that a boy?" her dad asked.

Ah. Maybe now would be a good time to...say something.

"No," she said.

He looked relieved, but also somehow worried. No doubt, he thought she hadn't made enough friends, or...love interests.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you, actually," she said slowly, trying to figure out if he would be like her mom, who she'd told over text message as an aside, or if he would need more details and hand-holding. Coming out was really the worst. Why couldn't she have beamed the idea to him when she was born, so she could avoid this shit? "About...that."

Charlie set down the slice of pizza he'd been holding, mind obviously racing. "Are you pregnant?" he demanded.

She almost spat out the pizza she'd anxiously bitten into. "What? No!"

"Oh. Good." He sat back in his chair, still eying her warily. "Did you need advice...about sex?"

Bella was certain that she was redder than the pizza sauce that had dripped onto her plate. "No! God. Let me talk, please?" At this point, getting it out in the open might be less painful.

Her dad nodded and waved his hand, signaling for her to continue. He didn't pick up his slice yet, though, which...that was probably a good thing.

"There's a girl. That I like." She practically spat the words out. Why was this so painful?

His face remained frozen.

She wasn't sure he understood her. "I want to date her. I don't know if we will, because, um, Forks doesn't seem the most progressive, and honestly, I don't know if she even wants to date me, but—I thought you should know that I've always liked girls. And boys, but, um, major preference for girls." She hadn't meant to lay everything out like that, but once she'd started, she hadn't been able to stop.

"Okay," he said. His face hadn't changed, and he started to eat his pizza again. She wondered if this was him in denial, processing, or acceptance. As much as she usually appreciated his quiet nature, it was frustrating in moments like this, where she couldn't parse what he was thinking at all.

She scrutinized him as she went back to eating, temporarily putting aside Edythe's cryptic texts. They didn't speak again until he told her he would do the dishes and she told him she would go do homework upstairs.

No homework was getting done, of course—she was crying instead.

She was being stupid. Tons of people got way worse reactions when coming out to parents. Sure, he hadn't said anything to indicate that he was angry, but he wasn't acting happy, either.

She was scared—what if...what if he was going to blow up, send her to Florida, or, or—somewhere worse? What if she had to leave Forks, leave Edythe? It was stupid she thinking that, too. They weren't even dating, but figuring out her deal was the first thing Bella had been invested in in months.

Her phone chirped. It was Edythe again. "Bella, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied, because she didn't need to spill her guts about how upset she was about coming out to someone she was just getting to know.

"Usually there's more of a reaction when I say something that gives me away."

Bella snorted, amused despite her tears. "Just distracted."

"Should I be jealous?" Edythe sent, and it was obviously teasing.

Bella sent back the middle finger emoji.

"Rude," Edythe responded.

She sighed. "As if anyone could possibly measure up to you, immortal or otherwise."

"I was hoping that wasn't the conclusion you would come to."

It was nice to be distracted by Edythe. It was probably something Bella should examine, but for now, she let it happen. They sent a couple teasing messages back and forth about how Edythe revealed too much and Bella was close to figuring it out, but—there was a knock on the door.

Yikes. She sent a quick text. "Don't ask any questions but would you rescue me if my dad kicked me out?"

"Yes, obviously. What the hell, Bella?"

She steeled her shoulders and went to open her bedroom door. "Yeah?"

He could obviously tell she'd been crying. "Bella," he said, frowning. "I'm sorry. I should have been more clear downstairs. Thank you for sharing this with me. Of course I will love you the same way no matter who you date. Whenever you and this girl work things out, I would love to meet her."

It was the most he'd said to her since she'd moved in with him, and she felt her eyes welling up again. She hugged him tightly. "Thank you, dad."

"Of course. I'm sorry for not communicating this to you earlier."

"Thank you for telling me now," she replied.

He kissed the top of her head. "Don't stay up too late," he said gruffly, clearly at the end of his emotional expression.

She couldn't help but smile. "I won't." She closed the door as he turned away and laughed softly to herself. Okay. Bridge crossed. "Don't worry," she sent to Edythe. "Everything is fine."

* * *

Edit 1/7/19: So...I changed the age exchange. I know it no longer follows the iconic conversation in the books, but I have a couple reasons.  
1\. Juniors, generally speaking, tend to be closer to 16 than 17. I can excuse Bella being 17, because her birthday is in December. If Edythe is 17 in January of he Junior year, but her birthday is in June, it means she either is lying about her birthday (possible), or she at some point got held back a grade, which doesn't make much sense in the context of the books.  
2\. If there's ever an E-rated segment of this story (no promises), I don't want to write a sex scene involving a 17 year old, even if she's an immortal one. So she (and a couple other characters) are getting aged up, though it's not explicitly clear here.


	5. never seen her act like that, part 1

A/N: For the prompt "candy canes," from the WFN Advent challenge! Also for Lupa_Barnes' challenge, Destroy Dic(tion) December.

* * *

The morning began normal enough, with everyone getting into the car 25 minutes before the first bell. Edythe drove, as always, and today, Rose slid into the front seat instead of Emmett.

"I want to talk to you," she said to Edythe. Her thoughts made it clear that she wanted to discuss Bella, and wanted to know if she was the person that Edythe had been texting.

"Okay, sure," Edythe said because she couldn't think of a way to get out of it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to Rose, it was just...she wasn't sure what to say. Yes, I'm a lesbian, and I'm falling in love with a human; hope that's okay with you, sis! That would _definitely_ go over well.

Rose sent a pointed thought her way. 'Have you been texting Bella?'

"Yes," Edythe said aloud.

'Why?' was her immediate response, but she quickly clarified. 'Are you trying to gauge how much she knows? Are you trying to keep her from being too interested in us? Is this about the kiss at the hospital? I still want to know why you let that happen.' She and Rose had been sisters long enough that they knew how to have a private conversation. All yes and no questions, which required completely honest answers. Any clarifications were to wait for a more private location. She was glad to see that Rose was being respectful enough to do it this way.

"Yes. To an extent. Yes. I'll tell you later."

'What about the kiss? Wait. Did you enjoy the kiss? Do you like her?' Her sister really was quite clever. Edythe had wondered at times if she did have some sort of gift, just something so subtle that no one had noticed. Her above average ability to suss out people's intentions was really quite impressive, even if it wasn't a 100% guarantee.

Edythe gave Rose a searching look, trying to figure out how the answer would be received. "...Yes."

'To both?'

She nodded.

"Want to share with the rest of us?" Alice asked from the back seat. "I just keep getting yes/no answers."

"Must suck to be normal," Emmett teased. He didn't seem all that interested in whatever his wife was discussing with Edythe. Perhaps they'd already discussed it.

"Here's a thought," Rose said, turning around in her seat. "Stay out of our business."

This was the typical exchange that happened whenever Rose and Edythe had one of their private conversations. It hadn't gotten any less funny over time.

She didn't ask any other questions until they were close to the school. 'Be careful. I know you know that, but...You really like this girl, huh?'

"Yes."

'Okay. I don't like this. But...we can fight after school. And it's not because she's a girl, so don't worry on that front.'

"Thank you," Edythe said. She had remembered Alice's statement from before, so she'd been trying not to worry, but hearing it from Rose, who was more pragmatic than the rest of them...it made her feel better. Maybe the others would be fine with it, too. She wondered who else would be concerned about her pursuing a relationship with a human. Jasper, certainly. Possibly Emmett, depending on how strongly Rose felt.

'I think you're stupid, though,' Rose thought, and climbed out of the car as they pulled to a stop. 'Where do you even expect this to go?' She waited for Emmett to join her before walking away.

"Not sure yet," she admitted. She did not want to go to school, though. The parking lot was filling up, but Bella's truck wasn't there yet. Maybe...she could get her...coffee?

"Try a Candy Cane Latte," Alice said, as she left the car. She grabbed Jasper's hand and the two of them walked off, headed for their classes. Jasper always liked to be one of the first students in class, so he could adjust to the smells slowly.

Edythe sighed. Okay. So a Candy Cane Latte. There was a coffee shop nearby, perhaps a mile from the school. She would be back in less than ten minutes, plenty of time to give Bella coffee.

If she dropped it off at her class.

Regardless, she wouldn't mind. She drove down the main road and parked there. Sure enough, the sign out front advertised their Candy Cane Lattes. It seemed a bit late in the season for that, but maybe they had an excess of candy canes and saw no reason to stop selling them.

Whatever the case, Edythe trusted Alice. Bella would like the latte, so she would buy it.

There was a handful of people in line, but most of them were buying brewed coffee. Jessica Stanley was in line, looking as though she'd rather be back in bed. She didn't notice Edythe until both of them had already ordered and were waiting on their drinks. She didn't say anything, though, just looked at Edythe oddly.

Of course, Jessica's mind was an open book.

'What's she doing here?' she wondered.

Her confusion mostly seemed to be based on the fact that she'd never seen Edythe here before, but also from noticing how little they all ate.

Which was not ideal. They would need to be more subtle.

"Jessica, right?" Maybe she could distract her.

'Wow, she can speak to us mere mortals?' Her thoughts did take a turn, which was probably a good sign, and the accidental accuracy was pretty hilarious. "Yeah. How's it going?"

"I'm well," she said. What did humans discuss, besides the weather? "Cold out there, huh?"

She nodded, still completely baffled that Edythe chatting with her. "Good time for a hot drink."

"Definitely." She searched Jessica's mind for another conversation topic. "Don't you have first period with Bella?"

"Bella Swan?" Her voice had taken on a whole new level of disbelief. 'I knew Bella was obsessed with the Cullens, but I can't believe they noticed! God that's awkward.'

Edythe managed not to grimace. Jessica's thoughts weren't out of the ordinary for human teens, but it did goad her a bit to hear her think of Bella that way. "Yes. We've been texting."

'Oh! My God! I'm going to kill her for not telling me about this!'

"About Biology," she tacked on quickly. "We're lab partners."

"Oh," Jessica said. 'Damn. Here I thought someone might actually have an in on the Cullens.'

"Large soy chai!" the barista called.

Jessica rushed up to it, but came back to talk to Edythe again. "Bella isn't in my first period class, but she's in Mike's. English, with Mr. Mason."

"Thanks," Edythe said, smiling. "I need to go over some homework with her."

"Totally," Jessica replied. 'Edythe is way nicer than I thought she was.'

She tried not to take that personally. Undoubtedly it was just...the way they came off, being so distant. "Have a nice day."

"You, too!"

Edythe grabbed her latte when it came up and hurried back to school. As she parked, she noticed that Bella's truck was there, now. She was going to be late to class, but she shouldn't have a problem getting it to her before the final bell. It was especially lucky that Bella's class was near the parking lot.

Bella was seated in the middle of the room behind Eric and next to Mike, both of whom were clearly vying for her attention. She seemed a little overwhelmed by it, but not in any immediate danger. Even so, when she saw Edythe walking toward her, a look of relief fluttered across her face. "Hi," she said.

"Hey," Edythe said. "I wanted to talk to you about the homework, but I'm a little too late." The lie was mostly for Jessica's benefit, because she was certain that the girl would try to get answers out of Bella at lunch later that day.

"That's okay," Bella said. She looked a little confused, though—probably because there wasn't any homework for them to discuss. "How are you today?"

"Very well," she said honestly. She remembered the drink in her hands suddenly, and set it down on Bella's desk. "I picked this up for you."

"Oh," Bella said, eyes going wide. She picked it up and took a sip. "Peppermint?"

"It's a Candy Cane Latte," she said, laughing a little.

She took the lid off and laughed. "There's peppermint shavings on the top. That's cute. Thank you." She blushed brightly.

"No problem," Edythe said. She was certain that if it could, her face would be flushed just as red as Bella's. "Could we meet up at lunch to discuss the homework?"

As startled as Bella seemed, she immediately said, "Yes!"

Mike broke in. "Edythe, why don't you sit with all of us at lunch?"

The offer wasn't nearly as chivalrous as he wanted it to seem, though he couldn't know that Edythe heard him thinking that he didn't want to miss an opportunity to wear Bella down. (He didn't think of it that way, of course.)

Still...it might be a good way to dissuade all of them from figuring it out. "Okay. See you then?"

"Yeah," Bella said. Her thoughts were as hidden as ever, but Edythe could read her face, at least to some extent. She was excited.

She couldn't help but be excited herself.

* * *

A/N: The big mood for this universe is that Edythe and Bella are gonna have friends and family that are _Good_.

Jessica doesn't come across great in this part, but that's only because we're hearing her thoughts. She does like Bella, but yanno. There's no filter in your brain. I think that's why Edythe/Edward has such a low opinion of humans in Forks. Jessica and Bella are still figuring each other out, but at the end of the day, they are friends. For sure!

So: up next is lunchtime, from Bella's point of view. We'll see more of her friends, maybe Edythe will even make some friends, too :)

This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, whose goal is to improve communication between readers and authors.

This author invites:

-Short comments  
-Long comments  
-Questions  
-Constructive criticism


	6. never seen her act like that, part 2

Bella wasn't ashamed to admit, at least in her own mind, that she stared after Edythe as she left. She wasn't the only one—practically every one in the room seemed startled by Edythe's brief appearance.

"You know, I don't think she's ever sat with anyone but her family, as long as she's been here," Eric said thoughtfully. "Can I sit with you at lunch, too?"

Mike frowned. "Sure, whatever. Hey, I thought we didn't have homework in biology. Do you guys have another class together or something?"

"Um, no," Bella said, finally glancing over at Mike. "Maybe it's an extra credit assignment or something like that."

Mike didn't really seem convinced, but Bella elected not to care. After all, she wasn't convinced, either. There definitely wasn't any work for the two of them to discuss. It was more likely that Edythe had just made up an excuse to come talk to her.

She felt her face warming up again and took another drink of her latte. So Edythe really _did_ like her, then.

"Isn't she like a genius, though? Why would she need extra credit?" Eric wondered.

Bella thought about it that carefully. It wasn't really something she had considered before then. Was Edythe smarter than average? Certainly. But maybe that was just because she never seemed to forget anything, at least as far as their text messages seemed to go. And if she was also functionally immortal, than she'd probably gone through high school enough times that she remembered most everything. As much as knowledge might change over the years, Edythe could probably keep up with it if she never forgot anything at all.

Bella frowned slightly. Who the hell wanted to keep repeating high school over and over? It sounded awful. The Cullens—if they were all as immortal as Edythe, which she suspected they were—must be a special sort of masochistic.

"I don't know," Bella said aloud. She didn't like the idea of anyone else solving the mystery of the Cullens. She'd need to dissuade Mike and Eric from figuring this out. "Maybe even geniuses worry about keeping their grades up."

* * *

Before Spanish started, Jessica grabbed her arm and pulled her close, so they were leaning across the aisle between their desks. "Hey, so Edythe Cullen—" She stopped, having noticed the nearly finished latte on Bella's desk. "Where did you get that? I didn't see you at Mocha Motion[1] this morning."

"Oh," she said, suddenly feeling shy. "Um, Edythe got it for me."

Jessica's mouth popped open, but no sound came out. Abruptly, she shut it, a series of thoughts seeming to cross her face. "Oh. That's nice." She then released her arm and turned to face the front of the room.

Even though her arm had been released, Bella was still leaning across the aisle. One of Jessica's most notorious characteristics was her nose for gossip, and this had to be juicy, but she had just...stopped.

Jessica glanced over at her. "Class is about to start," she said simply.

There were still two minutes before the final bell would ring, but Bella sensed she wouldn't get any more of an answer for the moment. She leaned back into her own chair.

A strange thought crossed her mind. Had Jessica figured them out? Was she cutting Bella out of her friendship? Or was she being respectful?

It was way too weird, and Bella didn't think she would find anything out, at least right then. She resolved to text Jessica about it after school if she didn't find anything out before then.

For now—well, class _was_ about to start.

* * *

Lunch came both faster and slower than Bella would have liked. She was nervous about seeing Edythe, and nervous that her friends would find out what was really going on. It wasn't that she was ashamed or anything, but she really didn't know what the mood in Forks was in regards to queer people. Would she even have friends at the end of this lunch?

But...she was also desperately excited that Edythe was choosing to spend so much time with her, and in person, not just over text (which was great, but not the same).

Jessica walked with her, excitedly talking about an upcoming dance. "I know its early, but I was really wondering...well, I was thinking about asking Mike to come with me," she said.

"That's a great idea," Bella enthused. In one sense, she was selfishly happy that if Jessica asked Mike, he might be too distracted to bother her any more, and they could actually be friends. But she also loved the idea of the two of them together. She thought, in their own way, that they would really work together. They were both so upbeat and chatty.

"Really?" Jessica said, pulling Bella to a stop so she could search her face. "I thought you might want to ask him."

"No, really!" she said reassuringly, touching Jessica's arm. "I only think of Mike as a friend. But I think you two would be really good together."

She was suprised to see Jessica's slight frown, but it was quickly hidden with a smile. "Okay. Thanks so much, Bella." She looped her arm thought Bella's and tugged her along to the cafeteria.

When they reached the double doors that opened into the loud room, they split up, Jessica going straight to their table and Bella joining the lunch line. Jessica always brought her lunch, because there weren't enough kosher items available for her to eat at the school[2].

Edythe joined Bella in line. "Hi," she said, softly. She smiled at her dazzlingly, and Bella sucked in a sharp breath. Was it even possible for someone to be so beautiful? "Would you mind if we shared lunch today?"

"Um, no," Bella said. She tore her eyes away, certain that if she stared any longer, she might faint. "Is vegetarian food okay? I don't really trust anyone else to cook meat for me."

She laughed, mostly to herself. "Yeah, no problem. I hear its better for the environment, anyway."

They moved through the line slowly. Bella picked out more food than she normally would, since Edythe was going to be sharing with her.

A PB&J sandwich, split in half.

Edythe was close enough to her that she could reach over and grab her hand.

Cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes to dip in ranch.

She carefully moved her arm to brush her fingers against Edythe's cold fingers softly.

Edythe froze, but didn't pull her hand away. How could anyone stand so stiffly? Why were her hands so cold? The weather wasn't nearly as bad today, still cold, but not cold enough to do this.

She traced her fingers over Edythe's knuckles ever so slightly, intrigued by the temperature and the smooth texture.

They moved forward in the line, hands falling apart, and Edythe seemed to come back to life.

A scoop of mashed potatoes and green beans. It should be enough, since she'd go home in just a few hours and could get a snack there, too. Edythe picked up a coke, a water bottle, and a pint of chocolate milk when they reached the cooler, and then paid for the food before Bella could get her wallet out. She also swiped the tray from Bella's hands. "Where to?" she asked.

She didn't really need the question answered, of course—Edythe had been in Forks long enough to know where Mike sat at lunch.

Jessica appeared to be championing them; she'd put her purse and her backpack into two seats next to each other, at the edge of the table, and had sat herself down between the two chairs and Mike, who obviously looked put out. As they drew closer, Jessica was saying, "They have work to do, Mike!"

Angela greeted them as they sit down. She was across from Jessica, watching the two of them bicker with a look caught between amusement and...something Bella couldn't quite identify. Protectiveness, maybe.

She didn't get time to wonder about it, though. People have noticed Edythe sitting down at the wrong table, including her family, who mostly look annoyed, and in Rosalie's case, worried. Everyone else just seems flummoxed.

"So, what was the homework you wanted help with?" Bella asked, loudly enough that the nearby tables could hear it and spread the word. She really did feel protective of whatever their secret was, and she wasn't going to let everyone stare them down and figure something out.

Edythe smiled and opened the water bottle. She nudged the coke and the milk towards Bella before sipping the water. "Hold on," she said. She grabbed a carrot, stuck it in her mouth, and then leaned down to open her backpack.

She couldn't help but stare. Had Edythe just... spat the carrot into a box?

She sat up, no carrot in her mouth, but a binder in hand.

Okay, she definitely had. Did she not eat anything? Like, ever?

She frowned, but didn't say anything. She could ask her about it later, when no one was listening in. "How did you know my favorite drinks?" she asked, opening the milk first. Maybe they were obvious choices—who didn't like chocolate milk? And coke, of course, was a classic. But... there had been a lot of options.

"Just guessed," Edythe said, but she didn't look at Bella, staring instead at her binder. She seemed almost...shy. Maybe she had been watching Bella, the way Bella had watched her.

She felt a curl of pleasure, that was accompanied by a blush, because why wouldn't it be? She waited as Edythe flipped through a few pages and opened up an English assignment. "I noticed that you had your own copy of Pride and Prejudice. I was wondering if you could help me come up with a unique essay topic for this."

Bella leaned over and started to read the assignment. Her arm pressed against Edythe's, so she felt how still Edythe went against her. Once again, she was startled by it. She was so still she may as well have been a statue sitting in the seat next to her. Was she even human?

Of course, once she had the thought, she couldn't unthink it. She barely processed the reading assingment, needing to read it three times before she got through it. "Um, that's a good question," she said thoughtfully. She always liked more open-ended prompts, and this one definitely fell under that category.

Before she could come up with anything, though, Eric arrived at the table, dropping into the seat across from Edythe. "What's up?" he asked the table at large.

"Lunch," Mike said, and flicked a green bean at him.

"No!" Jessica snapped, grabbing Mike's arm before he could any other food flying. "No food fights!"

"Yes, please don't," Angela said to Eric, not unkindly.

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, mom." Then he turned his attention to Edythe and Bella. "So, how's homework?"

"We were just starting," Edythe said. Her tone had a slight edge, but when Bella glanced over at her, her face was impassive. She "ate" another carrot.

Which reminded Bella that she actually did need to eat some of this food. She grabbed half of the sandwich and stuffed it in her mouth, partially to avoid having to say anything. She honestly felt a bit out of depth. As much as she wanted to allay suspicion from her friends, she also didn't really know how to. She knew well enough how to act straight, but protecting Edythe's inhuman (or maybe super human?) nature was proving to be too much of a challenge.

"Is it for bio?"

"No, the upcoming English essay on Pride and Prejudice."

"Ohhh, that," Eric said, frowning slightly. "I haven't even finished reading the book yet. Aren't we only meant to be three chapters in?"

"Yes, but I like to work ahead." Edythe seemed to be relaxing slightly, though her face showed no difference at all. Maybe she was just as nervous as Bella was. "And I knew that Bella was a big fan of the book."

"Really?" Angela asked.

Bella quickly swallowed the bite she had taken and nodded. "I think I read it the first time when I was 12."

She smiled in response. "That's nice. I've tried a few times, but I've never been able to get past the parts with Wickham."

"That's fair," Edythe said.

"He's a real asshole," Bella agreed.

The smile on Angela's face, already gentle by nature, seemed to become even softer. "I'll give it another try, since you like it so much, Bella."

"And because it's an assignment," Jessica jumped in, laughing.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Mike sighed. "I haven't even started."

The conversation devolved after that. Since Edythe was acting normal, everyone else seemed to follow suit, just treating her like an unexpected guest, rather than a museum exhibit. They looped her in and out of conversations while she and Bella discussed the prompt.

At one point, Edythe moved her chair closer to Bella, enough that their knees were touching. Her knee was still cold, but she was relaxed instead of stiff, and Bella couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, Edythe!" Jessica said suddenly, leaning around Bella. "Why don't you come with us to Port Angeles? We're going to go shopping for dresses for the dance."

"Oh," Edythe said, frowning slightly. "Um, when are you going?" She glanced over at Bella, like she was looking for permission.

"I'm not going to the dance," Bella said quickly. "But I'd be happy to help you pick out dresses, of course."

"Why aren't you going?" Mike demanded, leaning around Jessica, who was still leaning forward. His shirt nearly touched his mashed potatoes.

"I don't dance," she said simply.

He frowned at her. "But I thought—"

"She isn't going," Jessica said firmly, though she looked disappointed, and Bella was very certain that this wouldn't be the last she heard of it, at least not from Jessica.

"Do you just not have someone to ask?" Eric asked. "Because you could always ask m—"

"It's not that," she said hastily. She needed an excuse, stat. "I'm...going out of town on the weekend of the dance."

"Where?" Mike asked.

"Seattle." Another random answer, but it would do well enough.

Jessica was obviously becoming irritated with the conversation, which Bella was honestly grateful for. She was irritated, too. "She's not coming. Anyway, Edythe? Do you want to come with us?"

"Who all will be there?" Edythe asked slowly.

"Just me, Bella, and Angela[3]."

Edythe searched her face, then glanced at Bella, who smiled encouragingly. "Okay," she agreed. "When would this be?"

"Next friday," Angela said, smiling.

She nodded. "Okay, but I think I'll need to drive up after you guys that day... I have a meeting with a teacher after school."

"We could wait for you," Jessica said.

"No, really, I don't want to take any time away from you guys. I'll just text you when I make it to town and meet up with you," she said swiftly.

Bella was kind of reeling from Edythe's agreement. She hadn't actually expected it, but she found that she was happy about it. Not only was Edythe choosing to spend time with her, but her friends like Edythe enough to invite her along. And Edythe was willing to come, even if she obviously just wanted to drive herself.

She nudged Edythe's knee with her own and smiled at her. "Can't wait."

* * *

A/n: [1] I looked up coffee shops in Forks just out of curiousity, and this name was way too hilarious/adorable not to use.

[2] I saw a headcanon about Jessica/Jeremy being Jewish (based mainly on their hair!) and I absolutly loved it. I also love the idea that they are black and Jewish, so I'll probably confirm that later in the series. :)

[3] Lauren who?

(Sadly, linking footnotes doesn't work on multi chaptered works)

So this took a different direction than I thought it would as I wrote it, and as I mentioned in a reply to a comment, I lost my initial draft. But I really like this, actually, though it's more dialogue based than thoughts based, which is a bit different than the previous installments of this series.

Edit 8/12/18: There was previously a typo where Erica was called Erica. It has been removed. Big thank you to DracoOblivion for catching the error!

Edit 1/7/19: Toward the end, Bella now begins referring to Jessica as Jess. Basically, they become close enough friends to the point that Bella, although internally, gives her a nickname.


	7. girl talk

A/N: Oh, god I'm sorry that the earlier posting was messed up! I was in a hurry when I updated and didn't preview it. My bad :( Big thanks to everyone who let me know.

* * *

Edythe usually walked alone to biology, or on occasion with Emmett, who had a history class nearby, depending on whether he walked with Rose.

Today as she left the cafeteria, she found herself drawn into Angela and Bella's group. Mike would have been a part of it, except that Jessica, believing now was the time to make it happen, according to her thoughts, had grabbed Mike's arm and held him back to ask him to the dance.

Emmett couldn't have joined them subtly. It wasn't exactly his forte.

Hanging out with humans was...different than Edythe had expected. For one thing, she had thought she knew all of them from their thoughts, but they'd all been...different, out loud. Like Jessica quickly defending Bella's choices, even though she was planning to convince her to come later. And she seemed to be of two minds about Mike, like she wasn't actually sure she should go with him.

Angela was like she had expected, though—kind and protective. She quietly told Bella, as they walked, that she and Jessica had gone to every dance together since middle school. "Jess never makes me dance to slow songs," she said, smiling a little. "All of the guys here are...assholes. I'll probably ask someone just to keep her happy, but, well." She shrugged. "It will just be so everyone leaves me alone."

"You and Jessica have been friends for a long time," Bella commented.

"Since she moved here," Angela said. Her thoughts were wistful, just a short flurry of memories the two of them shared. "She's...my best friend."

Bella glanced at her oddly.

Edythe wished she could read Bella's thoughts, but that was nothing new.

"Who are you thinking of asking?" Bella wondered.

She shrugged in response. "Eric, maybe."

"Really?" Edythe couldn't stop herself from blurting. Angela was kind, but she had been annoyed with Eric—and Mike, for that matter—all through lunch. She didn't seem all that thrilled about asking him now.

She just nodded, though she was grimacing. "I...think it's for the best." Confusingly, she thought of her father, patting her shoulder gently.

Edythe stared at her, once again at a loss. She had thought she understood humans prior to this lunch, but it was rapidly becoming clear that she didn't have a clue.

When they reached class, Angela split off from them and took her seat. Edythe was actually a little disappointed not to spend more time with her—she was curious about Angela, too. Not in the same way she was captivated by Bella, but still.

"So, you don't eat food," Bella murmured as they sat down at their lab table. She raised an eyebrow at her, obviously curious.

"Well," she said, thrown that she'd noticed. She'd thought the box in her backpack was fairly subtle. No one else has noticed. "Not that food?" It was embarrassing, really, how being around her seemed to make Edythe forget every lie she'd been practicing her whole life.

"Noted," Bella said with a small grin.

She groaned a little. "Bella," she whined.

She just grinned and patted her arm.

Edythe didn't flinch—having had Bella so close throughout lunch made all of ...this a little easier. She breathed carefully, her arm still tingling where Bella had touched it. This was nothing compared to when Bella had leaned against her, which had practically sent her brain into hyperdrive, and shot her bloodlust to the ceiling, but every touch meant something, and it was enough to overwhelm her. Emotionally speaking. She wouldn't kill Bella, no matter how good she smelled. She wasn't even hungry—she'd hunted the night before, and there was still a carrot-like taste in her mouth, nauseating her.

So she could do this.

Carefully, Edythe put her hand under the table, and touched Bella's leg, just above her knee.

It wasn't like she was still living in 1918. People touched each other more, now. Hell, even Edythe herself had wrestled and cuddled with all of her "siblings." This touch shouldn't have been a big deal, but the truth was—the truth was that everything with Bella was a big deal.

Bella moved her hand to cover Edythe's. She carefully—delicately, almost—flipped her hand so it rested palm up on her leg, and took it in her own.

She had to keep from hyperventilating on top of not crushing her hand. God, she was a mess. They held hands for two minutes and thirteen seconds before Edythe had to pull away, too overwhelmed.

Bella was blushing again, staring straight ahead.

Edythe felt more and more flustered as they sat next to each other without talking. Carefully, she ripped a small corner of notebook paper, and drew a small smiling face. She slid the paper across the desk.

Bella looked down at it, glanced over at Edythe, and smiled.

For the most part, Edythe had been ignoring thoughts. She'd gotten pretty good at it over the years, which was to be expected.

Still, she couldn't entirely drown out her siblings incessant questioning.

Emmett and Jasper mostly seemed confused by the situation. Emmett pointedly thought, more than once, 'It's kind of weird that you're hanging out with someone we all considered killing not one month ago.'

'Do you realize that if this goes wrong, you've now publicly attached yourself to her?' Jasper asked.

'By kind of weird, I mean really fucking weird!' Emmett was kind of stuck on that.

Edythe...couldn't blame him. And they were both right, it was just...the more time she spent with Bella, the less she wanted to think about it.

Not that it meant she hadn't thought about it.

She was agonizing over it, in fact, caught up wondering whether their feelings for each other were more important than their respective safety. Bella could die with just one wrong move, and if anyone in Italy found out how close the two of them were getting...it wouldn't end well.

Edythe sighed, and Bella sent an odd look her way. "You okay?" She mouthed.

She just nodded, although she definitely was not okay. A big part of her wanted to eat the first person she'd ever had feelings for. How was that supposed to be okay?

She knew that she tended to be somewhat morose when it came to matters of...well, everything. She wasn't sure she had ever had a soul on most days, and on days when she thought she might, she knew it had darkened.

Back when Rose was new to the family, Edythe had told her that killing was a heavy burden on the soul. Rose had wondered if it mattered, but her list of people to kill was already limited. She didn't think about it, any more, so Edythe figured it hadn't pierced her soul in the same way.

She couldn't make up her mind about this. Being with Bella had so much good potential—Alice had showed her that, and in fact was happily running over visions at the moment, enough that Edythe could have stopped thinking and looked through them herself.

But there were also Emmett and Jasper's concerns to consider. This was a huge risk not only for Bella, but her whole family, too.

She was asking a lot of them. Maybe she shouldn't do this.

Across the school, Rosalie abruptly stopped reciting Les Misérables and thought, clear as a bell, 'Let's skip 7th period.' Then she pictured the spot in the woods just outside of the schoolyard very clearly, and went back to reciting, this time going through Frankenstein.

After a moment, when Alice had a flash of a vision, she thought, 'I'm coming, too! And you better talk out loud.'

Well, Rose shouldn't be too surprised. It had been too long since their last girl talk session, anyway.

* * *

Alice and Rose both beat her to the spot, and were hissing at each other in tones too low for Edythe to hear as she approached them.

"This is a huge fucking risk," Rose said when she noticed Edythe.

"A calculated one!" Alice said defensively.

Rose actually rolled her eyes at that, and scornfully remarked, "She's in love! I've been in love, and I know nothing is all that calculated."

Both of them were probably right.

She came to stand next to them with a sigh. "I'm not in love, yet," she pointed out.

Rose searched her face. "I just don't get it. When we talked this morning I thought you were being stupid because I was pretty sure Bella was going to find out the secret. I didn't think you were going to be even dumber—"

"That's not fair," Alice tried to cut in.

"Even dumber!" Rose snapped, glaring at her. "And go public with her! Now if something happens, you two are going to be linked. It's not just you in danger, you know."

"I do know that." It had been on her mind all day. The main reason she worried about it, aside from the fact that she might accidentally kill her first...girlfriend (they'd need to talk about that soon), was the idea that her family would get scrutinized pretty closely. Not to mention that the treaty with the Quiluetes would get broken. It was all dangerous.

"Maybe you're right..." she said slowly. Even as she said it, she felt extreme despair well up. If she couldn't be with Bella, what was the point of living? That day in the hospital, when they'd kissed, her world had been rocked, settled onto a new course. If she gave up on this relationship, she was absolutely sure that she would never be happy again.

"If Edythe doesn't pursue this," Alice broke in. "She's always going to wonder if she should have. And she's never going to be happy."

Rose frowned, obviously not thrilled with that idea. "You can see that?"

"Edythe keeps changing her mind," she said with a shrug. "It's kind of like emotional whiplash, honestly."

Edythe wondered if she should feel offended that the two of them were practically discussing her like she wasn't there.

"Imagine not being with Emmett," Alice continued.

Rose did seem distressed, then, apparently unable to comprehend it. It made sense; Edythe could remember when she'd first been turned, and how unhappy she had been, until Emmett came into her life. "Do you think Bella is the one?"

"Yes," she said, before she really thought it through.

She didn't need to think about it, though—she already knew.

And although she loved Rose, Edythe suddenly realized that her opinion wouldn't be modified by her sister's. She'd decided.

Alice grinned and clapped her hands. "It's going to be fine," she promised both of them. "Now, about dress shopping for the dance. Are you thinking of going?"

She grimaced. She wasn't particularly opposed to going to dances, though she usually didn't. Her siblings, paired off as they were, usually enjoyed themselves well enough, but if she tagged along, she was normally bored, or worse, lonely. "Bella isn't going," she hedged.

"You could totally change her mind," Alice suggested.

She shook her head. "I'm not sure about that." Bella hadn't even asked if Edythe would be there before saying she wouldn't be—she clearly hadn't wanted to go at all. And she'd already realized that Bella was incredibly stubborn.

"I still think Bella would go if you asked," Alice argued.

"Well maybe I don't want to go."

Rose clicked her tongue. "Smart move, getting out of the carpool. I guess you're not totally stupid."

Edythe rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

Rose just laughed, and darted close enough to ruffle her hair. "Take Bella to the dance. We'll watch out for you." She smiled tightly.

"Really?" It wasn't that Edythe was surprised that Rose cared for her—they weren't just sisters, they were friends, too—but such a quick turnaround was surprising.

"Really," Rose agreed. "I—we care about you. And your happiness. If Bella is a part of that...we'll make it work. I can't say I'm completely on board with this, because I can't imagine a future for you that goes well, but I want you to have the present."

"Uh, hello? I can see that future. Nine out of...twenty times...it goes just fine."

Both Rose and Edythe grimaced at Alice. "Not the best numbers," Rose pointed out.

"Sure, but I'm getting more and more positives. Before this conversation it was probably...three out of ten."

Edythe sighed. She would never get a 100% surety, but more than 50% would be nice. "When I fail, what happens?"

A flurry of images—Bella dead in her bedroom, Bella dead in her truck, Bella lying still in a forest, obviously alive because she was sobbing, not bleeding, just...alone. And Edythe, standing in a sunny courtyard in Volterra, glittering.

"I can't figure the last one out," Alice said with a frown. Then her eyes widened. "Edythe, you're shaking!"

Edythe hardly processed it. She was in too much of a panic. She was a fool to think any of this would work.

Rose was at her side in an instant, wrapping an arm around her. "Good endings, please," she ordered.

Bella with golden eyes, Bella in a wedding dress, Bella running in the forest and hunting with Edythe, Bella's tombstone 80 years later.

Much easier to swallow. Still, "Bella shouldn't be a vampire."

"Why not?" Alice demanded.

"Of course not," Rose agreed at the same time.

The two of them shot glares at each other.

"This life is cursed!" Edythe insisted.

Rose nodded.

"Stop being dramatic!" Alice said. "Once you get past the blood, it's fine! Anyway, I saw the same golden eyes you did, so there's nothing to worry about."

"That's easy for you to say!" Rose snapped. "You don't even—" she abruptly cut herself off.

Edythe couldn't help but feel grateful. She knew exactly what Rose had been about to say.

Of course, so did Alice.

"Just because I don't remember my human life doesn't mean I didn't struggle to adjust! You try waking up alone and tell me I had it easy!" Alice was hurt—whenever it came down to this sort of thing, both she and Rose always ended up on bad terms, hurting in their own ways.

Edythe needed to deescalate the situation before the two of them hurt worse. "Hey, let's be fair. Neither of you have had an easy time. And Bella's situation, whatever it will be, won't be like either of yours."

The two of them shifted uncomfortably, though she could hear them mentally calming down.

"I'm sorry, Alice," Rose finally sighed. "Sometimes I get caught up feeling sorry for myself and forget that just because your situation was different, it wasn't easy."

"I'm sorry, too," Alice said quickly. She flitted over to stand next to her. "What you went through—of course it's still awful and upsetting. Time can't erase that. I wasn't thinking about how the discussion around Bella might remind you of that."

Rose smiled and wrapped an arm around Alice's shoulder. "It's okay. Thank you for understanding."

Alice smiled and turned to hug Rose fully.

Rose met Edythe's gaze over her sister's head and rolled her eyes. But she was smiling, and her thoughts were affectionate. She jerked her head. 'Get over here,' she thought very clearly.

Alice opened one of her arms.

She sighed but joined their group hug as requested. She didn't even try to wiggle away when Rose kissed the top of her head, even though it felt a little silly.

"So," Alice said, after about eight seconds. "About this dance—"

Edythe groaned, and Rose just laughed. "I can't see the future, Edy, but you might as well go along with it," she suggested.

So she was going to the dance. Now she just had to get Bella on board.


	8. he said

Being friends—or more? They really needed to talk about that—with Edythe was better than Bella had imagined it would be. Texting had been fun and exciting, but real life was somehow better. It was also nerve-wracking as hell, but...still. Amazing.

They'd held hands. For two minutes! Edythe might have looked pained the entire time, but she didn't think that was her fault. And the smiley face on the scrap of paper...it was tucked into Bella's pocket now, and she would figure out somewhere to keep it when she made it home.

So: Edythe was still weird—she didn't eat, and was either shockingly nervous about being physical with a girl, or...dealing with something. That first day in biology came to mind—all the anger in her eyes.

There was an answer to all of her strangeness, just out of Bella's reach.

For probably the first time since she'd moved to Forks, Bella found herself smiling as she walked to the gym with Mike.

He started out their conversation well enough. "Nice of Edythe to join us for lunch."

"It was," she agreed. "I'm really happy we're becoming friends." And more.

"It's kind of surprising to see a Cullen branching out. "

Ugh. The way people said the Cullen name was more than a little irritating. She sighed. Maybe she could do a little more damage control...make them seem more...human.

"I don't know much of their history, but I can't imagine moving to a new place being easy. Especially since they all lost their parents." True and sympathetic—and completely normal .

Mike only hummed in response. "Jessica asked me to the dance." He was apparently done talking about the Cullens.

"Wow, that's great!" She said immediately. She knew that Jess had split off from the group with that in mind, and she was happy to see a potential relationship blooming. "You two seem so well-matched!"

He frowned, apparently not expecting this. "Oh."

"I mean, Jess is great. She's really fun! And you two were the first people to befriend me when I moved here."

He didn't answer, still looking a little irritated.

Which meant she was starting to feel a little irritated herself. "You two both like the beach," she suggested. They both had longingly talked about California beaches and eagerness to go out to La Push at lunch that day.

"Who doesn't?" He muttered, almost too quiet to hear.

She decided to pretend she hadn't heard him. "What color do you like? I'll make sure to keep it in mind when we go dress shopping."

He sighed. "Well, I told her I'd have to think about it."

Damn it ! Bella huffed. She was certain it had something to do with her, and honestly, it wasn't fair to Jessica. "Why?" She demanded tersely.

His frown deepened. "I thought you might want to ask me."

"Wow." She was actually a little surprised at how...stupid this was. "Honestly, I don't even know what to say." Not to Mike, who obviously wasn't listening anyway. She did have an idea of what she would say to Jess, who deserved better than a boyfriend who was interested in someone else, but not even man enough to be honest with her about it.

Her good mood was somewhat ruined, but gym probably would have done that anyway. At least they were only doing strength training today—push-ups were a lot less embarrassing than basketball.

Mike tried to set up near her, but she managed to find a single spot between two girls she'd never spoken to before. They wiggled their mats away slightly, but she tried not to take it personally. She'd probably hit one of them in the head with a ball at some point. Embarrassing. Anyway, she'd take their disparagement right now—Mike was on her shit list, and she didn't mind if he knew it.

There was peace in a good workout. Luckily, Bella wasn't so clumsy that she'd hurt herself (or anyone else, for that matter) while doing push-ups. And Coach Clapp didn't mind what pace they set for themselves, so she didn't strain herself and went for steady and consistent.

Her abs were still burning when the final bell rang, so she took her time changing. And...part of her hoped that Mike would be too impatient to wait for her outside.

No such luck.

"What?" She snapped as she shoved past him toward the parking lot.

"Why are you mad?" He demanded. "Shouldn't you be flattered?"

Ugh, speed walking wasn't getting her away fast enough. "Okay, first of all, I'm not going to the dance, just like I said at lunch! And second, I would never treat a friend like that. Jess likes you! There's no way in hell I would get in the way of that."

Mike opened his mouth to protest, but she wasn't done.

"And before you misunderstand me, I want to make it clear that I only ever saw you as a friend."

That brought him up short. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." So maybe she had known what to say. She kept walking, leaving him standing in the middle of the lot.

"That was brutal," someone commented.

It caught her off guard. "Holy crow," she exclaimed, stumbling slightly.

A cool hand grabbed her arm before she could fall.

She glanced up at the owner of the voice and was surprised to see..."Emmett?" Somehow, she hadn't expected for him to be the next Cullen to speak to her. Not that she could imagine it with any of them, but...Emmett was very different than Edythe and Dr. Cullen. She could tell that, already, just from his facial expression.

"Hi," he said, smiling at her cheerfully. "I'm surprised you know my name."

She did feel a bit flustered, but she tried to play it off. "I think everyone knows your name."

"Sure," he said, but he was obviously amused. "So does Edythe talk about me much?" He had a very friendly grin, but something about it was unsettling, too.

She tried not to let that show, either. "Um, not really."

"Ouch."

"Oh, don't take it like that," she hurried to say, wondering if she'd honestly offended him. She was incredibly mindful of the fact that this was the first time she'd started speaking to a family member of Edythe's since they'd become...involved. "We just haven't talked much at all about family. I'm still trying to solve the mystery, honestly."

That made Emmett laugh. "I see why she doesn't want to kill you anymore."

"What?" The word escaped her before she could stop it. Kill her?

"Oh, you didn't know?" He smiled at her genially, but there was this look in his eyes...he'd known that she hadn't known.

And if she hadn't remembered the anger in Edythe's eyes or the way she'd frozen up and assigned it to some supernatural property earlier, she would have been way more freaked out. Not that she wasn't freaked, just...it could have been more of a surprise.

Still. Emmett wasn't being very nice about it.

"Is that a threat? Seems like a weird choice, threatening the police chief's daughter." Maybe this was a little too much bravado. No need for him to know that, though.

Emmett spread his hands slowly. "No threat. I just thought you should know."

Bella stared at him, not really sure how to take any of this.

His face was inscrutable now, just a smooth smile under dark circles.

Dr. Cullen was in on the secret, and so was Emmett. In fact, it was probably the whole family, all with the same weirdness. She thought about how strong he'd been, holding her up with one arm when she'd nearly fallen. Maybe it wasn't that shocking—it wasn't like she was all that heavy, but...still. Her weight was combined with her thick raincoat and her book-filled backpack. She wasn't exactly light, either. And he had the same eyes as Edythe, too, just barely a golden brown, almost totally black. Not as dark as Edythe's the first day in biology, but close.

A thought occurred to her. "Uh, are you hangry right now?"

It had not occurred to Emmett, obviously. "What?" His smile was gone and now he stared at her with a perplexed expression.

"It just seems like you guys do really weird, almost mean things when your eyes are dark," she said.

He frowned. "You should let this go."

"I think you know I won't."

"Yeah." He smile again. "You're keeping things interesting. Don't stop on my account." Then he gave a little wave, and walked away.

The Cullens just kept getting weirder.

Bella sighed and continued walking toward her truck. She herself was getting a little hangry. The food she'd "shared" with Edythe had burned through her after gym and she was ready for the snack at home. Not to mention a family of supernatural beings had apparently considered killing her, and Mike, her so-called friend, was being a dick…

Yeah, she wanted some food. Damn, why didn't she keep any in her truck?

She was only about ten feet from her truck when Edythe caught up to her.

"Hey, wait—"

Bella couldn't help it—she laughed.

"What's funny?" Edythe asked, smiling a little.

"You're just the third person to accost me in the parking lot today," she said.

"Oh." She looked a little nervous. "We can talk later..."

"No, you're okay. I actually want to talk to you. And Emmett was weird, but fine."

"I...came to talk about that, actually," she hedged. She looked down at her shoes.

"The whole killing me thing?" Bella brushed by her to unlock her truck. She tossed her backpack into the passenger seat and looked back at Edythe. Maybe she was a little irritated with Edythe, too.

She looked stricken. "Um...he's been upset about that since lunch."

She hummed in response. He was upset, and he wasn't even the one who almost died. "I'm curious. What was the plan?"

"Get you alone, maybe the woods." She twister a lick of hair around her finger. "But I said no. That I would stick things out."

"How is that working for you?"

Edythe looked at her through her lashes. "Pretty well, I think."

Bella laughed a little. "You could have just passed me a note that said 'get out of my school.'"

"What?"

So no memes for Edythe. "Never mind. Anyway, this is…weird. I need some time to process it." She felt that was a pretty fair thing to ask, given that Edythe had discussed killing her with at least one person. She wasn't exactly upset—well, she was , but not so much that she wanted to cut Edythe off.

Actually, she suspected that had been Emmett's motivation. For whatever reason, Edythe's family didn't want the two of them getting close. Somehow, she was pretty sure it wasn't the gay thing. It was probably whatever made them think about killing her in the first place, which she could not stop thinking about. Fuck.

"You're not scared," Edythe commented, sounding curious herself.

"Do you want to kill me now?"

"No!" she exclaimed immediately.

"So I'm not scared," Bella said, smiling. And it had the added benefit of making her feel better, so there was that. It was all apparently part of the mystery. Maybe Emmett had meant to scare her off, but instead she was just...more interested.

"I'll text you later." She climbed up into the truck and shut the door. Then, laughing to herself a little, she rolled down her window. "Oh, and would you make sure Emmett eats whatever it is you eat tonight? He seems a little cranky."

Edythe blinked at her, and for a moment, Bella was too flustered to think about…any of it. Sometimes, it caught her off guard just how beautiful Edythe was.

"Holy crow," she muttered again.

Edythe made a face and said something, but it took her a moment to process it.

The world slowly filled with sound again. "What?"

"Why do you say that?" Edythe was smiling crookedly now.

She could feel her face burning, but she tried to stay cool. Edythe didn't need to know how useless she was when it came to pretty girls. "Why do I say what?"

"Holy crow?"

"Oh, it's uh…a combination of 'crap' and 'cow.' I got in the habit when I was younger and it…feels better than 'holy shit'? Sometimes, anyway."

Edythe laughed. "Okay. That's adorable. Holy crow," she muttered to herself. "I will make sure Emmett eats."

"Great. I'll see you later." Adorable. She resisted the urge to slam her head forward onto the steering wheel. "Adorable" was not a bad thing, even if it wasn't exactly how she wanted Edythe to see her. Whatever. Fine. There was no need to lose her cool.

She waved as Bella cranked the window back up. It wasn't raining exactly, but it was starting to mist unpleasantly. She sighed. The Phoenix heat would have been welcome just about now. She did her best thinking when sunning…

Oh well. Her desk at home would have to do.

* * *

Because she did actually care about how well she did in school, Bella did her homework first. It didn't take her long, though. For the most part, the Phoenix curriculum had been more difficult than Forks, and she breezed through most of it.

Her mind kept going back and forth between the conversation with Emmett and Jessica's weirdness, though, which provided a little too much of a distraction for her to successfully finish her math homework.

Maybe she just needed a break.

Edythe—or Emmett, for that matter—wasn't going to give her any more information—at least not on purpose.

But Jessica might.

She grabbed her phone and tapped out a quick message. "Hey, I know we got cut off from talking in Spanish this morning, but I wanted to know what u were going to say about Edythe."

While waiting for an answer, she returned to her last few math problems. Math was probably the one subject she hadn't grasped all that well in Phoenix, and Forks was no different. At least this was stuff she'd covered before, so she was faring a bit better, but still…

Her phone buzzed with a text from Jess. "O. I ws just gonna tell u I ran into her at MM. No big. E mentioned u."

That made her smile. Edythe talked about her to Jessica...probably not in much detail, but she'd come up.

Wait, how had she come up?

"What did she say?" she sent back.

She got a response back before she could finish her next problem. "Just that she wanted to talk to u ab hw. Plus she said u 2 have been texting. i ws gonna ask u ab it."

Ah...It was weird. This morning, Jess had seemed on the verge of grilling Bella about what she knew of the Cullens, but now she was acting completely disinterested.

She wouldn't confront her yet. Maybe she could sweeten the pot a bit? "Oh yeah. I think we're kind of friends now lol."

Bella finished her final math problem and still hadn't gotten a text back from Jessica, which was weird. The first day of school, she'd been so envious and curious about the Cullens, and now it was like she didn't even care.

Maybe it was Mike getting her down? But no, she'd stopped pressing in Spanish, before Mike had been a total tool.

Weird.

Still, wanting to give Jess a chance, in case she was just busy or something, she decided to distract herself with her own investigation. She ripped a piece of notebook paper out and wrote down everything she knew so far. The list was…longer than she'd expected.

-Immortal  
-Changing eye colors  
-Don't eat human food  
-Don't age?  
-Super speed  
-potentially invincible (can withstand car crash?)  
-super strength (probably)  
-cold  
-wanted to kill me for some reason  
-not very comfortable being touched, but seems to want touch, too?

She frowned at the list. There was something here, between the lines…

Her phone buzzed again. "Im glad," Jess had responded.

Okay, something was up.

"Jess, is something wrong?" she sent. She knew her friend was probably upset about Mike, but that couldn't be all of it.

Now her response was instant. "No, nothing is wrong," came through first, and then, "y".

"Ur just being kind of distant :/ Plus Mike told me ab what he said to you…" Bella replied.

Jess didn't respond for several moments, so she returned her attention to the list.

She thought about the Cullens as a unit, too. She'd only ever interacted with Emmett and Dr. Cullen, but they'd still had tells. Plus, they lived as a family even though…most of them at least…weren't related. They might have been adopted, but they were all strangely close in age...surely that meant something?

-Prefers a family  
-Dark circles  
-Pale  
-beautiful

The last few items weren't really anything unusual, but they still gave her something to chew on.

Jessica finally responded with two texts. "Mike is...Mike," and "sorry b. just thinking through things."

"What things?" she muttered aloud. She glanced at the clock—she needed to get dinner started...but she wasn't really in the mood to cook, so she decided she'd just make a salad and some spaghetti. She didn't text as she walked down the stairs, though she was itching to respond—with her lack of grace, she'd be more likely to take a tumble than successfully send a message.

Once in the kitchen, she was finally free to send her response. "ab me? or mike?"

The water was boiling before Jessica answered, "Uh, yeah, both I guess." She followed it up with another text before Bella had a chance to respond. "are u doing anything right now?"

"just finishing dinner," she typed while idling stirring the spaghetti.

"When will u be free?" came back.

She glanced at the timer on the stove. "Um...ten minutes?" If she could make the fastest salad she'd ever made before…She grabbed a knife and cutting board. It would be good practice, she reasoned with herself, though for what, she wasn't actually sure.

Her phone buzzed after she finished chopping a bed of lettuce. "Ok, can u pick me up?" Jess had sent.

"Of course. I'll leave asap." If she kept up this rate, she might actually be able to leave in less than ten minutes. She just needed tomatoes and a note for Charlie…

"C u soon," Jess sent.

Okay. Soon.

* * *

A/N: This was originally going to be longer, but then I was suddenly at 3000 words and I realized I needed to stop! So it looks like there will probably be two more chapters for this part of the story!

Comments and reviews make me write faster :)


	9. the thing that happened today

**A/N:** I'm back from my extreme writer's block with an...unexpected update. I was struggling for so long to write the next bits and getting no where, but then I realized that I never actually wrote the conversation about killing Bella and figured telling it from Emmett's perspective might be interesting, as well as giving some insight to why he did that strange thing in the last update! As a result, the last part is now complete, and I'll update with the next two chapters in a separate work. Enjoy this interlude!

I removed the word "pale" from Bella's list about the Cullens in the last update because I decided I didn't want them to all be white.

I also realized that I flubbed the canon timeline in the early parts of this series. Some of it was on purpose, but some was just faulty memory of the books. Rather than rewriting all of the series to fit, I'm going to (eventually) write down how it's actually going to fall in this universe. I will add a link when I get those kinks ironed out!

 **This update uses several quotes from Midnight Sun, mostly dialogue. These quotes are italicized!**

* * *

Edythe was losing her shit, Emmett decided as he watched her stare at the Swan girl from across the parking lot, and it was completely unexpected. Ever since he'd known Edythe—some eighty-odd years now—she'd been completely in control, had turned her nose up at the idea of hurting humans, had kept a perfect distance from all of them.

And it only took one fragile brunette to ruin all of that.

Because she was just that—fragile.

Rose was very unhappy about all of it. The night before, when Carlisle and Edythe had gone hunting, she'd told Emmett all of her concerns about the exposure and the danger of Edythe's new obsession. For the most part, he agreed with her. In fact, the only way they differed was that he found the whole thing…kind of hilarious.

Careful and precise Edythe, absolutely wrecked with emotions about a really good-smelling human.

Not that he told Rose any of that—not yet, anyway. He would, once things calmed down.

Emmett was so caught up in staring at Edythe that he nearly missed Alice's small gasp of "No!" and the screech of Tyler Crowley's van. Of course, his hearing was supernatural, so he caught all of it, but still—Edythe tearing across the parking lot too fast for human eyes to follow was pretty distracting.

"Fuck," he muttered when Edythe crushed the van. The argument that would follow this was going to be a real drag. He ambled over to Rose and slung an arm around her shoulder, watching as Tyler struggled to climb out of the car. He was shouting at Bella, asking if she was okay—it was all a bit much.

Rose had already pulled out her phone to make a phone call. "Esme, can you let Carlisle know we're headed to the hospital? …Just me and Edythe, I think. No. We're fine. Mostly. I'll give you a call from the hospital, just…let Carlisle know. Bye."

"I'm not invited?" Emmett asked Rose, a touch amused.

She shook her head. "No, I don't want Edythe to feel attacked or ganged up on. But I do need to chew her out."

He laughed, half nervous and half besotted. "Keep me updated."

* * *

Emmett drummed his fingers on his desk in Trig, deep in thought. He kept a small amount of attention on the teacher in case he decided to call on him for a question, but for the most part, his mind was about half a mile away, at the hospital.

What would Bella Swan do?

He was certain he'd seen her make eye contact with Edythe—would she confront Edythe, insist that she knew the truth, or at least some version of it? Or would she dismiss it as crazy, impossible?

Hard to say.

One thing was sure. There would be a big argument tonight, and Emmett would have to pick a side. In most matters, he sided with Rose, and he could even say that he probably agreed with her on this front: Bella was a problem, and they needed to solve it. He couldn't even say that her probable solution was a bad one.

He just hated to imagine how it would impact Edythe if they did kill Bella. For all that he'd teased her for being obsessed with the girl, she was full of more life and enthusiasm in the past two days than she'd been in at least thirty years.

All for a _teenaged girl_.

It occurred to him, quite suddenly, that Edythe was gay. Or at least crushing on one girl. As much as Rose—and he was sure, Jasper—might disagree, that changed things. The question was whether or not to tell either of them. He didn't like keeping things from his wife, but this was Edythe's secret—if she even realized the truth of it yet.

He drummed his fingers some more, drawing a sharp glance from the teacher. "Mr. Cullen, would you come solve this problem?"

He sighed. Humans caused more problems than they were worth.

* * *

In life, Emmett had had three younger sisters. He didn't remember specifics about them, of course. He had a vague idea about the oldest of them being extremely close to him, and there were many days when he cursed his inability to remember. He knew their names—Dorothy, Louise, Marjorie—and had a vague idea that they all had the same hair. Brown, with tight curls.

He didn't remember his parents at all, though he was pretty sure that his mother was black. He had some soft, faded images of his parents, almost completely lost.

Thanks to modern technology, he'd been able to trace the lineage of his siblings. He had three grand-niblings (a word he learned thirty-four years ago and had not stopped using since) and two nieces. Marjorie never had children, having died shortly after he did, and Dorothy had several miscarriages before finally carrying one daughter to term.

(One thing he was grateful for was the advent of modern childbirth care. Rose had briefly studied obstetrics in the nineties, and still read constantly about new practices and discoveries in medical journals. It had never been a strong interest of Carlisle's—he tended to work as an ER doctor and surgeon, saving the largest amount of lives that he could.)

Emmett kept up with his nieces and their children. He set up a scholarship for his oldest grand-nephew two years ago, when he'd been set to start college. It was all very above board—a foundation that picked a single student to support until they finished their higher education, even for multiple PhDs, if he wanted. He would do the same for his other grand-niblings, when the time came for them. What was the point of having money if he couldn't take care of his family, after all?

And Edythe…was just another baby sister. Even if Emmett was the youngest in the family. It didn't matter. He didn't remember his siblings, not really—but he remembered who _he_ was.

* * *

Lunch was usually a bore. Today was different.

There was lots of chatter in the cafeteria about the car accident—Jessica Stanley and Mike Newton had both gone to the hospital and were regaling their friends with what they'd found out, talking over each other eagerly. Bella was doing okay, and had gone home after only a few hours of being there, though she was apparently under strict instruction to come back immediately if she didn't feel better by the next morning. Edythe was unscathed—everyone had seen that, and no one was particularly interested in her side of things. Tyler wasn't so lucky.

"Dr. Cullen was there, looking beautiful as ever—" Jessica was saying, when Jasper slammed into the room, looking absolutely furious.

For a moment, the cafeteria quieted, many people stopping to stare at him. Whispers picked up as Alice flitted in after him, catching his arm and whispering in his ear. In response to whatever she said—it had been quiet enough that Emmett couldn't follow it—he close his eyes, exhaled sharply, and walked more calmly across the room. He was exuding calm now, strong enough even for Emmett to feel it at their table in the back corner of the cafeteria.

It wasn't your average calm, though. It was…calculating.

Jasper had come to the same conclusion he'd predicted he would. Bella was a problem that needed solving, and he would have no problem arguing for it.

Emmett still wasn't sure. He kept thinking about Edythe, quiet, miserable Edythe, genuinely laughing at Alice's jokes, having fake-angry arguments with Rose, composing new music for the first time in years. Was losing this new Edythe worth their safety? Maybe. Maybe not.

* * *

"Bella kissed Edythe and Edythe LET HER!"

The text from Rose came in the middle of Emmett's fifth period gym class. He didn't see it until he was changing in the locker room, and seeing it made him frown. It gave weight to his theory that Edythe was crushing on this girl. It didn't mean that Bella knew anything, but…it would be hard to keep the two of them apart.

Unless Jasper got his way.

"Edythe knows what she's doing," he texted back.

"I doubt it," Rose responded immediately. She must have been waiting for his reply. "You know how she is. Always thinks she knows best just because she knows what everyone is thinking."

"She can't hear Bella," he pointed out.

"Still. You know how she is."

It was true, even if it wasn't the nicest way to say it. Edythe could be a little bratty.

"I guess you're right. Jasper thinks we should solve the problem." Over text, he could hide his own discomfort. Rose might sense it, but it wouldn't be obvious to anyone else.

"He's right—why shouldn't we?"

That was what Emmett was afraid of. He was never going to side with anyone but Rose, even if he didn't always agree. She deserved to have someone on her team.

He sighed and tucked his phone away. He didn't have a good answer for her, anyway.

* * *

" _Bella Swan y Tyler Crowley—están bien?_ " Señora Goff asked.

"No se," Edythe said flatly. She had paused at the front of the room, studiously staring at her feet. She seemed…troubled, more than anything.

Emmett was a bit surprised to see her so unresponsive. Now would have been a good time to suggest that any strange thing Bella might say would be dismissed as something from an injury…

Although, if Emmett's suspicions about Edythe were correct, she did have feelings, and…she didn't want to "besmirch Bella's good name" or something pretentious like that.

He did _understand_ , though. It was why he was always on Rose's team, although—well, was it fair to compare whatever was building between Edythe and Bella with their almost 82 year marriage? Whatever. The point was…he was pretty sure Edythe didn't want to make Bella look bad.

She wasn't totally stupid though. She must trust Bella not to reveal anything she shouldn't.

Still…' _I hope you have a good explanation for what happened today. Rose is on the warpath._ '

Edythe just rolled her eyes in response as she walked to her desk, right next to his. She didn't speak, apparently very distracted.

He decided not to press her for an answer just yet. With her distraction…he hated to add on to her load, but, she would need to know…'Look out for Jasper. He's not as angry as Rose, but he's more resolved.'

Emmett was no empath, but he could recognize the absolute rage that washed over Edythe. He grabbed her shoulder, firm, not quite his full strength. Edythe wouldn't respond well to a threat, but she needed to be grounded right now. 'Jesus Christ, kid, calm down!'

She seemed more present at least, but still furious, not quite calm.

More grounding was obviously necessary. ' _Jasper's not going to do anything until we all talk. I just thought you should know the direction he's headed._ '

That seemed to soothe her, so he let his grip go slack.

"Don't call me that," she muttered.

'What, "kid?" Suck it up, Edy.'

"Don't call me _that_ , either." She seemed lost in her thoughts.

Emmett had never wished for Edythe's "gift," and he didn't want it now, either. Still, it would have been nice to know where her head was at. Was she going to stick with Bella so strongly that an actual fight would break out?

She didn't give any sort of indication as she drove the five of them home. Rose was seething, and Jasper was quiet, projecting a strong sense of surety. It didn't make Emmett feel any better.

It also didn't make him feel any better when Alice caught Edythe's arm and quietly said, "You have three paths ahead. They mostly end well." Because it sounded like at least one of those paths involved Edythe taking a stand, probably against Jasper…and Rose.

Carlisle was already home when they arrived. He'd taken an early shift at the hospital. It was convenient—Emmett hated the anticipation before a fight. He'd rather be through with it and working toward reconciliation.

Everyone stayed quiet as they walked through the house and into the dining room. As always, Emmett was amused by the room. Every once in a while, he liked to imagine actually bringing one of his bears home to eat on the table. It wouldn't exactly match the image they were trying to cultivate by having a dining room table, but still—funny.

Edythe broke the silence once everyone aside from Jasper was seated. (He'd elected to remain standing, but it didn't surprise anyone. He never liked pretending.) "I'm sorry," she said, making careful eye contact with everyone. "I was reckless, and rash, and… _I take full responsibility for my hasty action._ "

Rose wasn't impressed. "So you're taking responsibility. Great. Are you going to fix it?"

"I…I think I should leave town. Most of you know that…Bella kissed me. I think if I leave, it's not too early for her to move on and forget about all of this."

"No," Esme said immediately. "I don't want this family to be broken up. Not now."

Edythe patted her hand. "It's just a few years. And I'll keep in touch. I…could reasonably live in Seattle, and visit every weekend or so."

It wasn't really enough though, even if they didn't often spend their days together. And in any case… _"Esme's right, though," Emmett said. "You can't go anywhere now. That would be the opposite of helpful. We have to know what people are thinking, now more than ever."_ He didn't say aloud that he thought it strange that Edythe hadn't tried to discredit Bella before she could speak, but he didn't stop himself from thinking it, either.

She winced, but pressed on. " _Alice will catch anything major._ "

"Maybe, but wouldn't Bella be more suspicious if only you disappear?" Esme wondered. She had taken Edythe's hand in her own.

" _It's all of us leave, or none of us,_ " Carlisle agreed.

" _She won't say anything_ ," Edythe burst out quickly. She anxiously looked around the table, eyes noticeably skipping over Rose. "I'm sure of it—I pointed out how crazy she would seem if she did. _Alice, back me up._ "

Everyone looked at Alice, who still hadn't spoken since her brief comment to Edythe. " _I can't see what will happen if we just ignore this._ "

Rose couldn't hold it in for any longer. "We can't allow the human a chance to say anything! Even if we did disappear—which is stupid, by the way—it's not safe to leave stories behind us. Aro would not hesitate—"

"We've left rumors behind us before," Edythe interrupted.

Rose shook her head, still fuming. "Never something so bold as this. People saw, Edythe. And phones, now, I mean—there might be evidence."

" _Evidence_!" Edythe scoffed. "You and I both know that humans don't want to believe anything. They joke about Keanu Reeves living forever but no one believes it. We're about as realistic as Homey the Clown!"

 _"Rose—" Carlisle began._

"It doesn't have to be showy, or suspicious," Rose stopped him. "She could have had a concussion today. Maybe you missed something and she dies in her sleep. Aro would expect us to take care of it—he'd expect _Edythe_ to take care of it, _but this is obviously beyond her. You know I'm capable of control. I would leave no evidence behind me_."

 _"Yes, Rosalie, we all know how proficient an assassin you are," Edythe snarled._

"Watch your goddamn mouth, Edythe," Emmett snapped. He might not agree with Rose right now, but he wasn't going to let Edythe throw Rose's trauma in her face. "You know you were as much a part of that as she was, anyway, not to mention your own personal body count."

Edythe looked appropriately reprimanded, though still angry. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

Carlisle nodded at her, and then looked over at Rose. "You know my stance on Rochester, Rose. _This is not the same situation. The Swan girl is innocent_."

" _Obviously_ it's not the same situation," she gritted out. " _It's not personal. It's to protect us all_."

Rose would always do what she could to protect those she loved. It was something Emmett had always adored about her. Jasper thought it odd that he still looked after his family, but Rose understood it, encouraged it, even. She'd briefly looked into her own family and had been disappointed to find out that she didn't have any surviving family. She visited their graves on occasion, but he knew she wished she had something similar. She'd made do with their makeshift group, but it was never quite the same.

Carlisle sighed. " _I know you mean well, Rosalie, but…I'd like very much for our family to be worth protecting. The occasional…accident or lapse in control is a regrettable part of who we are._ But this wouldn't be a lapse, it would be…murder. And I just can't justify that, despite whatever risk she might present. Not to mention it would break our treaty with the Quileutes."

Edythe looked like she was straining a muscle trying not to smirk.

Emmett couldn't help but roll his eyes. Still… Carlisle was right about the Quileutes.

" _If we make exceptions to protect ourselves, we risk something much more important_ ," Carlisle continued, frowning. " _We risk losing the essence of who we are._ " It was incredibly pretentious, but it was exactly the kind of rhetoric that would sway Rose.

Emmett moved to wrap an arm around her shoulders as she slumped forward.

" _It's just being responsible," she said._

 _"It's being callous," Carlisle corrected gently. "Every life is precious."_

 _Rose sighed heavily and her lower lip pouted out. Emmett patted her shoulder_ , overcome, as ever, with how cute she was. _"It'll be fine, Rose," he encouraged in a low voice._

"So, should we leave?" Esme spoke up.

 _"No," Rose moaned. "We just got settled. I don't want to start on my sophomore year in high school again!"_

 _"You could keep your present age, of course," Carlisle said._

 _"And have to move again that much sooner?" she countered. "I_ like _it here! There's so little sun, we get to be almost_ normal _."_

"We could wait and see what Bella does," Esme pointed out gently. " _Edythe seems certain of her silence_."

 _Rose snorted_ , but Emmett couldn't help but relax. He no longer had to compromise on anything he was uncertain about.

But Jasper…

He would still be strongly for fixing things.

"I won't let you hurt her," Edythe said firmly. She didn't bother to address her comment—they all knew who she was talking to.

 _"I won't let Alice live in danger, even a slight danger. You don't feel about anyone the way I feel about her, Edythe, and you haven't lived through what I've lived through, whether you've seen my memories or not. You don't understand."_

Emmett didn't like to be around Jasper when he got this way. It was unsettling, how dangerous he was like this. Rose cared about them as a family unit, but even on his best days, Jasper's family was Alice. The rest of them were friends, or…cousins, at most.

Edythe didn't balk, though. "I know. But the point stands. _I won't allow you to hurt Isabella Swan_."

The two of them stared each other down, obviously sizing each other up. None of them had ever fought in earnest before, but the energy in the room was heavy. If the two of them fought, it wouldn't be something he'd like to witness.

Alice interrupted, though, apparently uninterested in letting the showdown go on. " _Jazz. That's not what I'm going to say_."

It never takes much for Alice to talk Jasper down, and the revelation that Bella is going to be Alice's best friend really isn't a surprise, not if anyone has been paying attention. Emmett very carefully doesn't think about his realization—it's Edythe's secret, and he's not going to give any sign that he knows. And Edythe is too distracted by Alice and Jasper to notice Emmett's quiet thoughts.

* * *

"This is weird, right?" Rose murmured quietly. "She never loses control like this."

"You mean you never lose control like this," Emmett corrected her. "But it is unusual for Edythe."

She doesn't quite preen at his praise, but it's a near thing. She carefully plaits her hair, obviously thoughtful. "I caught a whiff of her at the hospital today. She does smell good, but...I can't imagine losing control over something so...simple. Not Edythe..."

He just shrugged in response. He can remember two times when he smelled people as delicious as Edythe claimed Bella smelled. Neither of them had survived. "Maybe you'll smell someone new soon and change your tune," he teased.

Her eyes flashed mischievously. "Maybe." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and then curled up into his embrace.

He didn't tell her what he suspected, not yet.

But he would keep an eye on his little sister and her new...friend. They couldn't be allowed to put the rest of them at risk. He was no advocate for violence, but if things kept on the same path they had been...well, there was still a problem that needed solving.

Ever mindful of Alice and Edythe, Emmett didn't make a plan of what exactly he would do—not yet. The best chance of success would be to come up with something on the fly, early enough to nip things in the bud, and not to share anything too risky—not for Bella. But most importantly, nothing too risky for the family.

After all, family _was_ everything.

* * *

 **A/N:** I obviously have my biases, folks. I really adore Emmett and Rose, and I hope that shows here! I find them to be very complex and interesting.

I did modify some of Emmett's backstory—specifically, in extra canon material, Smeyer says that he has a few older brothers and just one younger sister. She also says that he just left a bag of money on their porch and then forgot about them. I thought that neither of these things worked for what I wanted. And canon exists to be tinkered with so...tada! I also wanted him to more visibly defend his wife, which...he sadly does not do much of in canon. Ugh.

Are there any other characters you'd like to see a one-shot/interlude from? I have two planned—one for Rose and one for Alice—but am interested in adding others, too. Let me know your thoughts!

Lastly, we are going to see the Quileutes soon! So, three things:  
1\. I am looking for a Native American beta. There are huge problems with canon's portrayal of the Quileutes, and I have a few ideas about how to change things for this story, but I want to make sure I don't make things worse.  
2\. Would you guys be more interested in seeing Jacob or Julie (his counterpart in Life & Death)? Please cast your votes! I am not leaning either way in particular, as I love both iterations of this character.  
3\. Related to question two—do you have an endgame ship for Jacob/Julie? This story will be endgame Edythe/Bella, but I could be persuaded to go a polyamorous route. Feel free to give your reasoning for a certain ship, and to offer multiple options! If you would prefer one pairing for Julie and another one for Jacob, tell me that, too!


	10. power to break, part 1

There were several mature responses to watching an older brother seemingly try to break up a budding relationship, but Edythe wasn't interested in any of them. She didn't like arguing with her family, even when they were in the wrong. Especially not now, when she thought that maybe Emmett was right to try and stop things.

Still. She was allowed to be bitter, so she let her irritation show as she stormed across the parking lot toward her car. Several students practically jumped out of her way and gaped at her, but she ignored them. Her display wouldn't really do much to actually intimidate Emmett, who was stronger than her, if a little slower. If it came to a fistfight, they'd be pretty evenly matched, and her brother knew it. Still, it felt good to drop her harmless human facade, even if only slightly. Anger was a hell of a drug.

She'd wished a hundred times that she could stop hearing everyone's thoughts. This afternoon made a hundred and one—she could hear Mike's grumbling complaints about Bella's rejection, Alice rapidly cycling through visions—maddeningly, they hadn't changed at all since Emmett's declaration—and Emmett somehow generating the equivalent of mental white noise, louder than everything else probably because Edythe was so focused on him.

"You fucking ass," she muttered.

Emmett was standing on the opposite side of the Volvo, like having a car between them might stop her from ripping him apart. He pressed his lips tightly together and stared at her with guarded eyes. The white noise in his mind let up for one second, long enough for Edythe to see the concern—the same concern Rose and Jasper had expressed after the car accident, but more subtle, more calculated than simple murder.

She scowled, and the white noise started up again. She couldn't stand to be around it—or the person producing it.

"I have to stay after class to speak to Señora Goff," she lied, pointedly. It would make it that much more frustrating for Emmett that she was obviously lying about their shared class. She tossed Alice the keys. "Will you take everyone home? I'll be busy for a while."

"Sure," Alice said, and immediately handed Jasper the keys. "But I'm too...I can't drive right now."

"Fine. I'll see you at home." She spun on her heel before she could get any angrier at Emmett's stony silence and walked back toward the Spanish building.

Señora Goff was already gone for the day, but it worked out in her favor. She didn't actually want to speak to anyone. There were fewer students around inside the cluster of the school buildings, and it was easy to slip their notice. She paused briefly next to the door to the Spanish classroom and knocked. No answer, of course, but she pretended to wait and then peer into the classroom.

It began to rain, and that cleared the remaining students from the area, albeit slowly.

Only Angela Weber was still there, but she was tucked under the alcove of a classroom, hunched over her phone, certainly not paying attention.

Edythe was curious about Angela, so she tuned into her thoughts briefly.

'—maybe it's nothing, but it just seems like I'm not alone any more...no, crap, I can't send her that. It will seem like she's not enough which is—ugh. Ok, maybe...maybe you're right, maybe she is trustworthy. Talk to her tonight but don't tell her about...'

Usually she could ignore the greater implications of her gift. She only heard surface thoughts, but that meant she'd caught onto more than a few private things that she knew people would be embarrassed about. This struck her as one of them. Angela was anxious about texting Jessica, but Edythe didn't need to know the details. With care, she turned her thoughts away.

Anyway, she could leave without much suspicion now.

She walked past the cluster of buildings, toward the woods. There were always rumors about seniors sneaking out here to smoke and fuck, but as far as she could smell, it happened rarely, if ever. Still, mindful that today could be the day that changed, she walked deeper into the woods before taking off at full speed.

Her shoes—dark brown Oxfords—weren't built for running, she realized about two miles in. She flitted to a stop, kicked them off, and fell back into a sprint. Alice might get angry about it, but she liked a very specific shoe and had several pairs of them. Anyway, they'd come back into style, so she didn't need to worry about holding onto them as much. No biggie.

She pressed herself to go faster. She was only about three miles away from her meadow, but she was always curious. How fast could she go? She'd never really tested it, but she knew what her approximate limit felt like. She wasn't quite there yet, that was easier to reach over flat, bare landscapes. No trees to dodge, just open air. The last time that had happened...must have been Alaska, or Nunavut, maybe.

She reached the meadow faster than she normally would have, given her pushed speed.

She always thought of this place as her own. She didn't know if anyone else ever went there, aside from animals that occasionally passed through.

It's not as beautiful in the rain as it is in the sun, but it's still a comfort to sit alone in the quiet, no one else's thoughts intruding on her own.

She lies down in the center of the meadow, breathes in the smell of wet earth, and goes still.

She can't stop picturing Bella's frozen face. She can't stop hearing the way her heart had raced or her soft, shocked gasp.

"This is...weird," she says to the empty clearing, her voice an almost perfect replication of Bella's, though not quite as sweet. "I need some time to process it."

Saying the words aloud didn't make her feel any better.

The truth was, what Emmett did only brought her back into the complicated swirl of emotions. She knew that she had deep feelings for Bella and that she wanted more than anything to be with her, but those same feelings also made her feel like she needed to run away, to secure herself somewhere else, where she wouldn't have to deal with any of it. And of course, she was constantly worried that she would hurt Bella. A large part of her still struggled not to to take whenever she smelled Bella, and that was every day! What if, one day soon, she couldn't stop herself and did drink her blood? Alice's visions couldn't be trusted at the moment.

"This is...weird," she murmured again. Weird didn't begin to cover it, Bella.

Edythe might not know Bella's mind, but there were a few things she could read—Bella was close to figuring things out, for example. She'd understandably read Edythe's initial dismissiveness as homophobia, but once that had been eliminated, she'd started picking closer to the truth. That was dangerous, too.

Edythe sighed. She kept going over the same arguments in her head. She wanted Bella's affection, and she wanted to figure her out, but she also wanted her blood, and to keep her from finding out about vampires. To keep her from endangering her family.

Bella could be part of the family, someday, though…

It's an errant thought—the first time she'd even had it. She'd allowed herself to focus on Alice's pretty dream of "I love yous," but never past that. Any more seemed selfish somehow.

But…if she were to become part of the family…wouldn't it be important to bring her in closer?

She sighed. Same arguments, over and over.

She lied still for a long time, watching the sky get darker. The rain was cold on her skin, though slowly she stopped noticing it. She could hear some kind of small animal—a rabbit, maybe—moving around in the brush nearby. When the crickets started chirping, she knew it was time to go face the music. To face Emmett.

When she thought about what had happened, she still felt so angry. She thought that everyone had decided to defer to her when it came to Bella Swan. And maybe that wasn't fair to them—after all, she wasn't the leader or anything like that, but…she knew Bella better than anyone else did.

The run home was easy enough that she even doubled back to the school to pick up her shoes. They were ruined, predictably, and Alice would probably scold her, but Edythe figured not leaving them behind was probably a better move.

'Oh, thank god,' was the first thought she heard when she got close to the house. Esme. She must have been in her greenhouse to have been the first to hear Edythe running back. She changed course so that she would stop there.

It was dark inside the greenhouse, but Esme didn't need any light to see, so Edythe wasn't surprised. "Hi," she said softly from the doorway.

The warmth was, as ever, inviting, though to a human it might be too humid. It was a nice change after being caught in the rain, though, so Edythe relished in it.

"Hello, sweetheart," Esme answered, darting over to wrap Edythe up in her arms. "Are you alright? I heard there was a bit of a scuffle with Emmett earlier."

"We haven't scuffled yet," she said, smiling a little. She settled into her embrace with ease. Esme was the closest thing Edythe still had to a mother, and in moments like this, she was extremely grateful.

The greenhouse smelled beautiful. It's mostly full of flowers, but there were sections of herbs and vegetables along the wall, too. Old bumblebee hives were lined on one shelf—in a few months, Esme would try to catch a new queen and set her up in the greenhouse.

This place felt more like Esme than any where else ever did. Sure, she had designed the house, and it was beautiful and felt like home, but the lushness of the greenhouse, the way she almost seemed to melt into the scenery—she belonged here.

"Come," she said, and pulled Edythe toward the orchids she'd been tending to. She didn't ask any more details, like she was the mind reader instead of Edythe, and knew that she wasn't ready to discuss it.

Though, truthfully, she thought she should be. She was older than everyone in her family aside from Carlisle and Jasper, yet also the youngest. Sometimes, even knowing she shouldn't be upset, she couldn't stop herself. Being eternally seventeen was just horrible.

She could hear Emmett in the house, but she ignored him for now, as she quietly worked with Esme on the orchids.

Alice and Jasper were reading in the living room. A new crate of books must have arrived. Both of them were flashing through the books, so fast that, without focusing, Edythe caught only snippets of their reactions to the books. Alice was reading a YA novel, she thought, based on her amusement. Jasper was probably reading one of the true crime novels he enjoyed.

Rose was in the garage, working on the '89 Mustang she'd recently acquired. Not quite a classic car, but technically an antique. She might sell it when she was done, but maybe not. Emmett was with her...

Carlisle was upstairs, in his study, writing an email to...she wasn't sure, but she thought it might be for Tanya. That was nice. Aside from her brief trip to Alaska, none of them had seen their coven in quite some time. It would be nice to have a longer visit with them soon, maybe even staying nearby for a year or so...

Emmett left the garage to go to his room.

Edythe poured some water into a watering can and started pouring the precise amount required by an orchid. She passed the can to Esme after a moment, so she could take care of the ones in her reach.

If Edythe confessed her feelings, the way she's confessed them to Alice and Rose, she thought Esme would understand, would be supportive. With fewer reservations than Rose, even. Edythe wasn't sure that she wanted to encourage false hope in her, though.

Esme set the watering can down. She smiled at her softly and tilted her head back toward the house. 'I'm all done in here. I'm going to see Carlisle. Walk with me?' As always, her thoughts were kind. She offered an arm to her.

Arm in arm, they walked across the yard. The house was like a lantern in the darkness; an entire wall of lights shone through. Alice waved at them from her bedroom, holding a book that she was almost finished with.

Inside, they separated. Esme wasn't very wet, having spent only a few moments outside, and wearing a raincoat to boot. Edythe was soaked, though, so she hurried to her room, where she stripped out of her clothes, tossed them in the laundry basket, and then took a quick shower.

Emmett was still in his room when she got out of the shower. A quick peek at his thoughts showed that he was browsing the political section of a news site. He always did that when he was nervous.

Sighing, she dried off and dressed quickly in soft pajamas. She wouldn't be sleeping, of course, but it would be nice to be physically comfortable while having a very uncomfortable conversation.

Vampire speed was incredibly convenient usually, and always exhilarating, but in this moment, she hated it. Why was she already standing outside Emmett's door?

Never mind, she told herself, and knocked.

He opened the door, his thoughts, funnily enough, also irritated with his speed. It made her laugh a little, and he looked at her askance.

"Nothing," she muttered. "I just had the same thought."

He smiled at that, and gestured for her to join him in the room. There were two chairs, a table between them that Rose used for car repair plans and that Emmett sketched at.

They say across from each other, both quietly contemplating.

'I'm sorry that I hurt you,' Emmett thought gently. 'I knew you wouldn't be happy with me talking to Bella. I was just worried.'

To be honest, she had known this. Emmett could be an ass, but he wasn't needlessly cruel. "I know," she allowed.

'You were hurt, though. I...I hope...she's not what I expected.'

That made her laugh softly. "Me either."

'She's funny. I can see why you like her.'

"Rose told you?" She was a little...disappointed. Not that she expected Emmett to react negatively, it was just...she would have liked to tell him.

'Oh, no. I figured it out, I'm, the day of the accident... I actually didn't mean to let on that I knew. Sorry.'

"It's okay." She considered her brother thoughtfully. The conversation he'd had with Bella still confused her. If he'd known her at all, he would have known that it wouldn't scare her away, but instead make her more curious...although somewhat more distant. Based on Alice's visions, that wouldn't last long, though.

And maybe that was the problem. He didn't know Bella. "You were trying to protect the family, right?"

He nodded. 'I'm not sure how well that worked, though.'

She chuckled and nodded.

'For what it's worth, I like her. If any one is going to endanger the family by finding out what we are, she seems like a good candidate. And...I do want you to have...someone. Love.' Emmett offered her a hand across the table, and she took it. He squeezed gently.

"I'm still mad at you," she told him.

He nodded.

If she was absolutely fair, she knew her anger was selfish. Emmett had tried to protect her family and the human she was obsessed with in a non-lethal way. Sure, it had been uninformed, but in a sense it had worked to make Bella more aware of the situation, and the danger she was in. What had really made her angry was that he'd acted on his own, without her permission. And, she reminded herself, he didn't need her permission to do...well, anything.

Plus, there was the whole way his actions had caused her to go into a self-flagellating spiral of indecision and regret.

Maybe that was healthy from time to time.

Well, probably not.

In any case, she realized, sitting here, that her desires hadn't changed. She was still going to pursue a relationship with Bella.

That is, if Bella would have her. The ball was certainly in her court in that regard, and all that was left to do now was...wait.

Oh, and one other thing.

"I've been reliably informed that you were hangry, today," she said to Emmett.

He grimaced. 'Shut up.'

"Or," she said, reaching across the table to poke his shoulder. "Let's go hunt."

* * *

A/N: I actually finished this ages ago and forgot to post it here! Sorry about that. I'm trying to finish the next chapter before New Years, so fingers crossed!

This ended up being both more and less introspective than I expected. Edythe has a lot on her mind, I guess! I think we'll definitely see more of her and Emmett reconciling, but that remains to be seen I guess, haha.

I like to think that the Cullens buy new crates of books, everyone reads them, and then they donate all the books to libraries in the area. Spread out and anonymous, obviously.

Lastly, an update from the last chapter:  
1\. I am looking for a Native American beta. There are huge problems with canon's portrayal of the Quileutes, and I have a few ideas about how to change things for this story, but I want to make sure I don't make things worse.  
2\. I am still wondering if you would prefer Jacob or Julie! As a reminder, Bella is bisexual, so it doesn't have to be Julie for love interest reasons. Further, the love triangle is NOT going to happen, so don't worry about that! Just go based on who you want to see!  
3\. You guys really don't want the ot3, haha. That's totally fine, I wasn't all that into the idea, anyway! That being said, I still want to know if you have an endgame ship for Jacob/Julie. Feel free to give your reasoning for a certain ship, and to offer multiple options! If you would prefer one pairing for Julie and another one for Jacob, tell me that, too!


	11. power to break, part 2

A/N: I've been looking forward to writing this conversation for a while, so obviously as I was trying to do so, it was tougher than expected...But I'm pretty satisfied with the end result.

This does feature a discussion of childhood sexuality. It's not inappropriate or voyeuristic, it's just a discussion of Bella explaining how she realized she was bi! It's actually based on personal experience, which is how I know it's really just a normal thing.

 **That being said, if these kind of discussions make you uncomfortable, you can skip the paragraph starting with "Easy, and also probably not what she meant to ask." and keep skipping until "Huh," Jess said.**

* * *

Dad—

I went to study with Jessica Stanley. Dinner is ready on the stove! Might be back late. Text me if you need me home sooner.

Love you!  
Bella

P.s. You should answer your text messages so I know you got them…

* * *

Forks was pretty simple to navigate, once you figured out where the main roads were. That was a good thing, because Bella's phone didn't get the best signal, and GPS wasn't an option. She relied on her instincts to make it to the address Jess had texted her.

Jess was easy to spot on the street, wearing a bright blue raincoat with the hood pulled up. Her rain boots were the same color. She waved when she saw Bella's truck approaching.

She leaned over to unlock the passenger for as she pulled up alongside her. "Where to?" she asked as Jess settled in.

"Would you be opposed to coffee? I know Edythe bought you some earlier, but it's fucking freezing out here. I can not wait for April." She shivered for emphasis.

"Sure," she agreed. "Mocha Motion? You'll have to direct me there." She'd never been before, but the latte had been pretty good.

"No, they close at six," she sighed. "Which sucks because they have the best coffee in town. But, whatever! Pay and Save works, too."

That one Bella did know how to get to, even from Jess's unfamiliar street. It was Charlie's favorite coffee shop in Forks. He brought cups of the stuff all the time and had taken her there regularly enough since she moved in that the baristas knew her by name. For his birthday, she was planning to buy him a travel thermos. If he was going to drink five cups a day, he should at least stop filling the local dump with paper cups.

Jess started to direct her, which Bella didn't mind. It was nice to lose herself in the directions a bit, to not worry about the conversations they were about to have.

There was something about car rides that Bell had always found sacred. The rain was pattering, soft tonight, but still present. Bella's windshield wipers were the newest part of the car, purchased by her dad just a few days ago. He got the ones with Rain-X, so the water was beading prettily in the window. Combined with the streetlights, the was almost a magical feel in the cab of the car.

Jess sighed as they got back onto main street. The sound didn't break that quiet, sacred spell, but it made Bella glance at her.

She was almost glowing in the dim light. Streetlights haloed around her hair and her dark skin had an almost blue tint from the dusky light outside.

She met Bella's eyes for a moment and smiled. She didn't look…upset. Maybe distant, though.

Bella looked back at the road. There was a turn she didn't want to miss, soon, and if she kept watching her friend, there was no guarantee she wouldn't.

"I…don't know exactly…I'm sorry that I worried you," Jess said quietly. Bella could hear her messing with the zipper on her coat, fiddling with the pull tab. "Turn right up here."

"It's okay," Bella said as they turned onto Forks Avenue.

There was a pause, pregnant almost. The turn signal broke the silence as they arrived at the shop, and Jess sighed quietly. "Sorry," she said.

Bella parked the car. She wasn't sure what to say yet, not until she knew more about what was going on in Jess's head. She had never really had a lot of friends, back in Phoenix, just people that she tended to pair with for homework and group projects. And sure, there were people she'd eaten lunch with, the kind of casual acquaintances formed by people who don't really connect with any one else. She had thought, up until lunch today, that Jess was kind of the same type. Friendly, smart enough to do projects with, a decent mealtime companion. But when she'd stopped Mike…multiple times, actually, from getting too close? From asking her to the dance, from sitting next to her… Jess had proved herself to be more committed than any previous friend had been.

Bella wanted to be more committed to her, too. Yelling at Mike might have been a start, but she was pretty sure that to really connect, she should probably come out. Something she'd never had to do with a friend before.

People had probably been aware that she wasn't straight, on some level. She'd crushed on girls before, even kissed one behind the school during lunch one day. She'd never hidden it, but she'd realized pretty early on that no one really paid attention to queerness in girls, so it hadn't ever been anything that regularly caused her problems.

Not that it had been easy, by any means. There had been girls who wouldn't change in front of her in gym, girls who flinched if Bella brushed against them while passing by. It was unpleasant, but ultimately not important—none of them had been friends, and she'd moved away now, anyway. The few friends she was still connected with on Snapchat only sent her snaps of their pets and dinner—no one missed her or though about her, really. And honestly, she didn't think about them.

(She knew she was lucky, that there were girls out there who got punished for who they were, by parents or by others in their lives. She wasn't exactly a stranger to that—Grandma Dwyer was no peach, but over all, it had only resulted in a few awkward social situations.)

Jess was a friend, though, one of her first. And so her opinion mattered. If she pulled away, Bella wasn't sure what she'd do. She didn't think she was close enough to Edythe to start sharing lunch every day. And she desperately did not want to lose Jess, or Angela, for that matter.

Inside the coffee shop, there were a couple tables scattered around. Soft acoustic music played over the speakers, almost too quiet to hear. In all the times they'd gone to grab coffee, she and Charlie were usually in and out. It was rare for her to sit down in a coffee shop—her mom couldn't handle the stuff, and Charlie was always on the go. It would be nice to sit and enjoy the place.

Bella examined the menu. Usually she enjoyed a variety of flavored lattes, but she probably shouldn't have so much caffeine, since Edythe had brought her the latte earlier that day. But the idea of drinking decaf turner her stomach. It was always way too bitter. Maybe the best thing to do now would be to order hot chocolate.

Jess was already at the counter. There was no line this time of day, though there were a couple people in the cafe, mostly sitting alone and working on laptops or reading books. There was one couple talking quietly in the corner. "You ready?" Jess asked, drawing her attention back. She seemed to have already ordered, if the expectant way she was looking at Bella was any indication.

She hurried over to join her. "Can I get a hot chocolate? No whip cream, please."

The barista typed in the order and then read off the total. Jess paid before Bella could wrestle her wallet out of her pocket. It was the second time it had happened that day, and the third time someone had bought her something, what with the coffee and the lunch from Edythe. She frowned. "I'm buying next time," she told her pointedly. How would she repay Edythe, though? Obviously she didn't eat or drink anything…

Jess smiled and nodded slightly as she took her change.

They took an empty table near the hand-off area, settling in while they waited.

Underneath her blue raincoat, Jess was wearing the same shirt she'd worn to school that day, notable because of it's soft green color.

Bella had added an over-sized sweater to her ensemble that she'd stolen from Charlie a few weeks ago. It was quickly becoming her favorite top. It was absolutely ugly, but extremely comfortable. The air always cooled at night in Forks, and she was feeling it, as usual. Charlie had laughed a little the second time he'd seen her wearing it while doing homework, but hadn't asked for it to be returned. She took that to mean he was fine with sharing.

Despite the sweater, she shivered a bit as the quietly chatting couple left the shop, blowing in some cold air. The hot chocolate was sounding better and better.

The song playing change to an acoustic cover of a song that Bella kind of recognized but couldn't quite place. She stared at the space above Jess's shoulder, wondering exactly how this conversation was going to start. A big part of her wanted to take back her questions and just spend the evening chatting about homework and school gossip.

But Jess was her friend. And she wanted her to know who she was. Not to mention that they needed to talk about Mike, for all that he deserved none of their attention.

She steeled herself to speak, but the barista called their drinks before she could get a word out.

Once again, Jess moved before Bella had time to react. She tapped the table next to her arm. "I got 'em." She brought back ceramic white mugs and slid Bella's across the table. She took a sip of her drink—Bella missed what it was—and after setting it down, said, "I really didn't mean to upset you earlier today, or anything like that. I knew you…well, I knew you were at least as interested in the Cullens as I was, so when I ran into Edythe this morning, I was just going to tell you about it! She was saying that you two had been texting…and I guess I thought maybe you had some juicy deets." She shrugged. "But then you had that coffee, and I was pretty sure Edythe had only ordered one drink. I guess, I wondered…" She trailed off, took a sip of her drink, and stared down at the table.

Now might be a good time to tell her, but Bella found herself shying away from the idea. "I don't know how Edythe considers us," she said. "But I consider her a friend."

"She said you guys have been talking about homework."  
"Yeah," she agreed. It wasn't really true, aside from their single discussion about Pride and Prejudice. Still…Jess didn't really need to know the details about Edythe's secrets.

"It's just…you don't really act much like…friends."

Bella could hear the question there, and she was pretty sure she knew where it was leading. "We don't hang out much at school," she admitted. She could do this. She took a gulp of hot chocolate, like it was liquid courage. "We've been texting, though. And um…I guess it's pretty obvious that I have a crush on her."

If Jess was surprised, she didn't show it; instead she looked immediately relieved. She grabbed Bella's hand. "Oh, my gosh. Does she like you, too?"

"Not sure," she said. She was pretty sure that Edythe did return her feelings, but honestly, she had a hard time believing that it was on the same level. Edythe was…perfect. And she knew, intellectually, that she was likable enough, but the distance between being a decent enough person and being flawless was miles long. Edythe had no reason to like her in the same way. And anyway, it wasn't her place to tell Jess about Edythe's sexuality.

Across the table, Jess frowned. "I think she does. She bough you coffee. I've never seen her do that for anyone else, not even her siblings." She paused, then took another sip. "The only time I've even seen her loan something was like…once Lauren borrowed a pencil from her?"

"Who's Lauren?" she asked. Inwardly, she was distracted—why were Edythe and her family so standoffish? If they just talked to people they wouldn't stand out nearly as much…and any standing out they did would be purely based on how pretty they all were. Other oddities could be excused as tricks of the light. Standing alone just highlighted their differences.

"She used to go here, but she dropped out to kickstart her modeling career last summer. She's been in Seventeen a few times, so I guess she's doing okay?" She sounded like she wasn't quite sure, but also like she figured everything would eventually work out.

"Her parents went for it?"

"Yeah. There was a scout and a contract. Very lucrative, apparently. " She pointed at Bella with a scowl. "You're changing the subject."

Bella held up her hands defensively. "I'm nervous! It's not like I come out to friends every day!"

Obviously abashed, she dropped her gazed covered her mouth. "I'm sorry. I skipped right over…thanks for trusting me. I'm glad you did."

There was the relief she'd been hoping to feel. Jess had been positive, but now there was trust. She exhaled. "I'm glad I could."

Apparently satisfied, Jess looked up at her slyly now. "So. Edythe, hmm?"

She tried not to groan. "Yes."

"Tell me!" she begged, grabbing one of Bella's hands. "Is it because she's so dreamy? Did the two of you meet up to discuss biology and find chemistry instead?"

"Oh, god." Bella covered her face with her free hand and thought about taking her other hand back to do the same. The touch was reassuring, though. "That's terrible. How long did it take you to think up?"

"Like, two seconds. Terrible jokes are a skill, and I'm level 100, baby!" They both laughed a little too loudly at that and got a scowl from one of the people tapping away at their keyboard.

Jess waved apologetically. Quietly, she asked, "But seriously, what's she like?"

"Amazing," she murmured, staring at her mug and wishing…wishing that Edythe was there right then. She wanted to know what the hell Emmett had meant. She wanted to know that it didn't matter. "I love talking to her, even about stupid things. I want to get to know her. And…she isdreamy." She chuckled.

"That's really nice," Jess said, smiling at her softly and leaning toward her. "I can tell from how you talk about her how much she means to you." She got a serious look on her face then. "But…her family…they're kind of—" She waved a hand around like she wasn't exactly sure which work she as looking for. "Weird?" she tried at last.

"What do you mean?" She knew about her own list of Weird Cullen Things, but she wondered what they seemed like to someone who had been observing them for a while longer. And, of course, there was the ever-present need to protect their secret. Whatever it was.

"Like…keeping to themselves, dating each other. Doesn't that seem…odd?"

"I've been avoiding thinking about that," she admitted. "And I haven't met any of Edythe's siblings, really. Just Emmett."

"Ah," Jess said. In an extremely serious voice, she intoned, "Big Sexy."

She could hear the capitalization, and it made her dissolve into giggles, Jess following close behind. It was hard to be intimidated by a guy who teenage girls so easily nicknamed.

She pressed a hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter, ever mindful of the asshole who seemed to think this coffee shop was a library.

"But seriously," Jess said once they'd calmed down a bit. "Be careful? Something about them is off."

Bella nodded. These weren't superstitions she could debunk. This was the very normal fear of a weird family dynamic, which, honestly, she could understand.

"Just make sure you aren't joining a cult," she said decisively.

"What, really?" That was a little far-fetched. Why would someone create a cult centered in Forks, of all places?

Although, that could be the point…

She shook the thought away. No, they wren't a cult. They were just…superhuman. Or not human? Something like that.

Jess just shrugged. "How about you just keep me updated, and if they try to adopt you, I'll kidnap you to keep you safe." She winked.

Bella smiled back. Nice to know she had someone looking out for her, even if it wasn't quite right. There was just one other thing bothering her, though. "So…this morning, when you stopped talking to me, t wasn't because you were freaked out about me?"

"Freaked out about what now?" She genuinely looked confused.

"Some people get pretty…uh…they get awkward around me when they realize I'm…not straight." Ugh, why was it so hard to get this stuff out?

Clarity dawned on Jess's face, though, so at least she was communicating what she meant.

"Oh! No, no. Wow, I'm sorry. Of course it doesn't bother m. You're not the first—" She stopped mid-sentence, looking somewhat chagrined. "Could you forget I said that? Just the last part?"

There hadn't been time to think about it before now, but Bella suddenly couldn't help but think about the wistful way Angela talked about Jess and their friendship at lunch earlier that day. If Jess had been about too say Bella wasn't her first gay friend, she thought she might know who was.

But that was private, and she shouldn't assume, anyway. It was nice to see Jess wouldn't out people without their consent, no matter who that friend was. So she nodded and drank her cocoa. "It's forgotten," she promised.

"All I really wanted to say is that it doesn't change how I think of you. Maybe, if you ever wanted me to set you up with someone, I'd have different ideas than I did before, but other than that, nothing has changed." Jess smiled at her warmly. "When I got quiet this morning, I was just thinking through things? And I thought maybe you were…a lesbian? And I didn't want to drag it out of you, I wanted you to have the space to tell me. But obviously not there. I was just caught off guard and processing."

It was pretty relieving. This was better than her dad coming to talk to her in her room, maybe. For perhaps only the second time, she wondered if Forks would become her home.

"Can I just ask you something, though?"

She shook herself out of her thoughts and looked at Jess a little nervously. That look on her face probably meant she was going to ask something offensive.

She considered her situation. Presumably, Jess was straight, which did indicate that there would be some amount of cluelessness regardless of her good intentions. She might put her foot in her mouth, but it would probably be survivable. She was hardly stubborn, and Bella could probably coax her in the right direction if she did say something awful.

Plus, it was better to have this conversation now, while she was braced for it. "Go for it."

"Is it…I mean…how long have you known?"

Easy, and also probably not what she meant to ask. "Since I was 14. My mom gave me a second sex talk before I finished middle school about how it was okay to experiment. I think she mostly did it to piss off my grandma, but it was the first time someone ever told me girls were an option."

"So…it's not just Edythe? Or, uh, the Cullens in general? They're all very…beautiful."

"That's putting it lightly," she said, smiling slightly. "But no, it's been my whole life."

"I thought you said 14?"

She hummed in agreement. "That's when I knew. But when I look back over my childhood, it's more obvious. I had kiddie crushes on girls, that kind of thing. So I realized it was nothing new, I've always been bisexual." She hesitated, then decided if she'd come this far, she might as well go all the way. "Not to mention I fantasized about girls like…as soon as I knew about sex."

Jess frowned. "What?"

"Like—you know when you learn about sex and you start thinking about it and trying to figure it out in your head?"

Jess nodded, so she continued. "I thought about girls having sex together at least as regularly as I thought about girls having sex with guys." She shrugged, a little awkward. This was more than she'd shared with anyone, and it was embarrassing, but also kind of great to say out loud. "It wasn't weird at the time, but looking back it was a pretty obvious signal."

"Huh," Jess said.

It didn't look like she was going to say any more for the time being, but Bella was still hesitant to ask the question that had jumped to mind. She couldn't help but worry this would be the thing that ended up pushing Jess away. Still…she was curious. "You mentioned that all the Cullens are pretty beautiful."

"Oh, yes," she agreed immediately. She laughed a little. "I think that's a pretty common feeling. Emmett is the cutest, if you ask me; something about Jasper is a little…scary? I've definitely daydreamed about Emmett and Rosalie, though. That has to be pretty hot."

She couldn't help but stare. That was pretty much exactly what she'd thought she'd heard, earlier. But she needed to clarify before she assumed, obviously. She tried to be casual about it. "So…Rosalie, too, huh?"

"Well, sure. That's why I wondered if Edythe was an exception for you. They're too pretty, you know?"

Jesus. Bella wondered if Jess knew she wasn't straight, or if that was going to be a huge surprise for her to work out later. Should she say anything?

Based on the way Jess was acting—like it was perfectly straight to have a crush on a girl—she thought maybe she should wait. "I…uh…sure?"

Jess didn't react to Bella's uncertainty. She changed the subject. "Anyway, you said you had something to say about Mike?"

"Oh, right." She grimaced. As much as she knew what should be said, this wasn't something she was eager to broach. It was obvious that Jess liked a Mike a lot, and it always sucked to hear that your crush didn't feel the same. "He…what exactly did he say to you when you asked him to the dance?"

She sighed and ran her fingers over the grooves in the table. "He wanted to think about it. Which really means 'no, but I don't want to say it.'"

"Yeah," Bella said, automatically stretching the word out.

She stared down at the table, quiet when she said, "He asked you, right?"

"I said no," she answered quickly. "Basically told him to go to hell? I'd like to imagine him rethinking his approach to life, but…"

Jess's face said she knew he probably wasn't, and that this was no reals hock. She pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and sighed. "I shouldn't be upset."

"Hey, why not? You liked him and he stomped on that, of course you're upset." Bella reached for her and smiled encouragingly. "It's okay."

"He really asked you? After lunch?"

She nodded, once again full of fury that teenage boys could be so cruel.

Jess's face crumpled and she slumped forward. "Well, fuck." She sniffled slightly and wiped her eyes. "That really fucking sucks. I've lived here for so long, and no one has ever liked me the way I like them, and—" She pressed a hand to her mouth, like she was trying to stop the words from escaping.

Bella scooted her chair around the table until she could put an arm around her. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay to be upset. I get it."

"No, you don't! You get here and everyone is throwing themselves at your feet, like you're a fucking princess." She slapped her hand on the table, and then covered her mouth again. The shame was evident in her voice when she muttered, "Sorry, that's not fair. It's not your fault I've never had a boyfriend."

Bella tried to remember if she'd ever ha a conversation like this before. Maybe with her mom, who had no shortage of boyfriends that hadn't worked out. When she had a crisis of confidence, Bella usually ended up listing everything she liked about her. Maybe that would work for Jess, too? "Hey, it's his loss, right?" she tried. "You're probably the nicest person in town. When I got here, everyone was curious, but you're the one who went out of the way to be my friend."

"Mike and Angela did that, too," she said dismissively.

"But who am I getting coffee with?" she argued back. She decided it wasn't the best move to mention that Mike had never wanted to be friends with her.

But Jess just shrugged, jostling the arm still around her. "Who cares?"

"I do," she said, frowning. "Anyway, you're also really pretty. I've always thought your hair was beautiful."

"Do you like me like that?"

It was asked accusingly, and Bella immediately dropped her arm. Shit, had she crossed a line? Jess had been okay with everything before, but maybe that was only if she wasn't the object of Bella's affection. And she wasn't, of course, but maybe even the idea was enough to change how she felt about their continuing friendship.

Jess seemed to realize she'd over stepped. "Sorry. I—I didn't mean that it would be a problem if you did like me. And it's not your job to gas me up." She sighed. "I'm just hurt. Not because of you. I just thought I had a chance with Mike."

Relaxing, Bella chanced her luck and touched Jess's shoulder. She was still a little to hesitant to put an arm around her, but it was in her nature to offer comfort when someone was upset. "Mike being stupid doesn't mean you aren't likable. It's like you said on the first day. I'm the shiny new toy."

She grimaced at the memory. "That was mean. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she said, waving a hand. It wasn't a big deal. "It was true. I'm new here and that made me interesting. I bet if he really got to know me, if I'd been here all along, he wouldn't care about me much at all."

Jess didn't look very convinced, but at least she looked less upset now. She wrapped her own arm around Bella and pulled her close. "I think…I'm gonna try to give up on him." She downed the rest of her drink—just plain black coffee, it looked like, now that Bella was close enough to see—in one go. "Can we get out of here?"

"Of course." Bella wasn't through with her own drink, but she hadn't paid for it, so it was no real loss. She picked up both mugs and returned them to the barista.

Jess looped her arm through Bella's as they walked outside. "Thanks for listening."

"Seriously, any time. It was nice to hang out outside of school." If they hadn't been friends before now, they certainly were now.

Jess tugged her into a hug. "One thing I know for sure is that Edythe likes you back." She didn't quite whisper it, but she leaned close to Bella's ear to say it softly. "I'm not gonna tell any one or anything, but I thought you should know. It's obvious if you pay attention. Like I said, no one else gets coffee, and she's never asked for help with homework before."

She smiled despite herself. It was nice to hear an outsider agree with her. She squeezed Jess around the waist before letting her go. "Thanks."

She just nodded and the two of them got back in the truck.

As she pulled out of the parking lot, Bella felt a little bad—it felt like the whole afternoon had been about her, rather than about what Jess had been feeling. "I know we didn't get to talk about Mike much, but if you need to talk more, you could always call or text me. I'm here for ya."

"Thanks," Jess said with an odd smile. "But really the current issue is that I don't have a date to the dance. Any chance you want to go stag with me and Angela?"

She was pretty sure Jess was pretending, at least to some degree. She was definitely still upset about things, but if she needed to talk about something else, that was okay with her. "I thought Angela was asking Eric," she hedged. She was also pretty sure, even if Angela wasn't the gay friend Jess had almost mentioned, she wasn't really into Eric. Still, it was strange that Jess immediately assumed they wouldn't go together.

She shook her head dismissively. "Angela doesn't really like him."

Theory confirmed, Bella thought to herself. Partially, anyway.

"She's totally been putting off asking him. She was really only going to ask so we could double date. If I don't have a date, she probably won't bother going through with it."

"I really don't like dances," Bella said. "And I'm going to be out of town."

"Liar," Jess teased, but there was no heat behind it. "It's fine. If you change your mind, though, the dream team will be ready for a new member."

"Thanks," she said, smiling slightly. For once, she could almost picture going to a school dance and having fun—staying pressed against a wall with Angela and watching Jess fist pumping and bouncing to whatever was playing, and definitely not dancing with Mike, who still might ask her, no matter how clear she had made it that she wasn't into him.

But…she still shied away from the idea. Maybe she was nervous, on some level, that it was too good to be true. And a waste of money to get a dress—ugh, even the thought made her shiver—and a dance ticket.

Would Edythe want to go? She'd agreed to go shopping but hadn't mentioned the dance itself. Would she want to go together? Bella couldn't decide if that was better or worse. She still wanted to say no, to run the fuck away. God. How did one handle this sort of thing?

One thing was for certain, though. She wanted to talk to Edythe again. Even one afternoon of not texting her was enough to make her miss her.

Tomorrow, Bella decided, she was going to talk to Edythe about what Emmett had said. She'd suss out whether she was in any danger—she suspected she was only in as much danger as she'd always been from Edythe. Maybe less, given that Emmett claimed Edythe didn't want to kill her any more.

Okay, phrased like that, Jess's concern about a cult was more realistic…she'd ask about that, too, just to be sure.

And, if she was brave enough, she'd even try to define the relationship. Her cheeks warm at the thought. Would they date? She could picture it, kind of. Holding hands as they walked around a park, sharing lunch, kissing…

She smiled. It wasn't that she was giving up on the mystery of Edythe's abilities, but for a minute, she thought it might be okay to set it aside and just focus on being a girl with a crush.

* * *

A/N: In my experience, coming out to friends is usually not such a big affair. But, this is Bella's first real experience with it, and that nervousness is real! Nowadays I just mention my wife and people can take it or leave it lol. One day that will 100% be Bella and Edythe, but right now, Bella's just a scared little bean.

I've pretty much made my decision regarding Jacob vs. Julie. Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions :)

I am still hoping to find a Native American beta!

Last few notes—I went back and made a few edits in a couple of the other parts of this. Most of them are small things. The biggest one is that Edythe tells Bella she's sixteen instead of seventeen. I explained my reasoning in the notes of that fic, but briefly: she's not really sixteen; in this story a few characters have been aged up for my own comfort. But she is pretending to be sixteen at this moment. Bella still knows she isn't and figures out the immortality.

When I began writing this fic, it was intended as a one-shot, which is why "what a stupid lion" is so completely different in tone and pacing. I fell in love with the story, of course, and now we're here! But, that means that a lot of the things I'm adding in now weren't planned from the beginning. So, when the Twilight arc of this fic is finished, I will be going back and doing a pretty big overhaul of the story—just neatening the edges and smoothing any plot holes—before I begin the New Moon arc.

Thank you for reading!


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